Sara Stuns Michaella in New Zealand

Top seed Vera Zvonareva made a near faultless start to 2008 at the ASB Classic on Tuesday, dismissing Sacha Jones for the loss of just one game. However, there were contrasting fortunes for the other seeds on display, with Maria Kirilenko and Eleni Daniilidou joining Zvonareva in the second round, while Michaella Krajicek was sent crashing out at the hands of Sara Errani.
 
Russia's Zvonareva endured and injury plagued 2007 on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, but her 60 61 destruction of New Zealand's Jones suggested she is well and truly over the left-wrist problem which sidelined her for four months last year. The 23-year-old former Top 10 star required a mere 44 minutes to dismiss her wildcard opponent and her reward for this dominant display is a round of 16 clash with Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson, a 64 75 winner over American qualifier Ahsha Rolle.
 
Kirilenko's advance to the second round was not nearly so serene and the No.2 seed was forced to overcome a second-set blip before defeating Kaia Kanepi, 62 26 63. No.7 seed Daniilidou endured no such problems during her meeting with Elena Baltacha, dispatching the British qualifier 61 61 in less than an hour. Next up for the talented Greek will be hard-hitting Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai, a 63 63 victor over Chinese qualifier Zhang Shuai.
 
The day's only real shock involved the No.4 seed, Krajicek, who was ousted in three entertaining sets by rising Italian star Errani. After splitting two tight sets, it was Errani who came out stronger in the decider breaking serve three times en route to a confidence boosting 75 67(4) 62 victory. Standing in-between the world No.69 and a fifth career quarterfinal is France's Pauline Parmentier, who dispatched Russian qualifier Vesna Manasieva, 60 75.
 
The final two players to take their place in the round of 16 were Camille Pin and Marina Erakovic, the pair scoring straight-set triumphs over Martina Müller and Ellen Barry respectively.
 
There was also plenty of excitement on the doubles courts at ASB Tennis Centre, with top seeds Emilie Loit and Meilen Tu putting the disappointment of their Day 1 singles defeats to one side to edge a thrilling encounter with Ayumi Morita and Junri Namigata, 63 57 119. Among the teams joining them in the quarterfinals of the Tier IV event were the No.2 seeds, Laura Granville and Vladimira Uhlirova, the No.3, Catalina Castaño and Sun Tiantian and the experienced No.4, Daniilidou and Jasmin Woehr.

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