Russian Stars Advance as First Round Continues

The seeds came out for the first time in Moscow on Tuesday, as the first round of the $1.34-million Kremlin Cup continued in the Russian capital. Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva, both among the seeds and two of their country's five Top 10 players, both won in two sets.
 
Kuznetsova, ranked No.7 in the world and the No.5 seed this week, defeated Li Na for the second time since falling to the Chinese at the Olympics, losing her serve five times but breaking her hard-hitting opponent seven times for a 64 75 victory. Kuznetsova lost to Li in the first round of the Olympics in August; she gained revenge with a three set win in the first round of Tokyo two weeks ago, and improves to 5-2 lifetime against her with Tuesday's win.
 
"I'm happy to have won in two sets; it was a very difficult first round match," Kuznetsova said. "It's great here. It's a great opportunity to play in front of my fans. Tennis has become so popular in Russia, especially over the last five or 10 years, so it's very exciting for us to play here in front of our home crowd."
 
World No.9 Zvonareva, the No.7 seed, had a slightly quicker go of things in her match against Maria Kirilenko, beating her younger countrywoman, 64 64. Zvonareva is now 3-0 lifetime against Kirilenko, having won in straight sets in their previous two meetings as well, including right here three years ago.
 
In other day session matches, Daniela Hantuchova beat Francesca Schiavone, 63 62; Katarina Srebotnik crushed Alona Bondarenko, 62 61; qualifier Sara Errani rallied back from a first set blowout to beat Victoria Azarenka, 16 64 63, which served as her third Top 20 victory of the year and of her career; and Ekaterina Makarova won a battle of wildcards with Elena Vesnina, 76(4) 76(1).
 
In the feature night match, No.6 seed Venus Williams became the first seeded casualty of the week, falling to Flavia Pennetta, 64 26 64. Williams was coming off a strong showing in Stuttgart, where she ousted Dinara Safina en route to the semifinals before falling to Jelena Jankovic in three sets; but Pennetta has been somewhat of a nemesis for Williams, losing their first meeting but now winning her third in a row against her to improve to 3-1 in their head-to-head series.
 
"Today's match was very tough," Pennetta declared. "Venus is always a tough opponent but my serve was working very well and I was playing my best tennis. At this moment, I just want to enjoy the win from today."
 
Three more first round doubles matches also took the courts. The only seeded team in action was No.4 seeds Srebotnik and Nadia Petrova, who notched a 64 61 win over Ekaterina Dzehalevich and Olga Savchuk

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