Wozniacki Heads Winning Seeds; Zheng, Kirilenko Fall

It was a mixed day for the seeds at the AIG Japan Open on Tuesday, with 18-year-old Caroline Wozniacki storming back from a set down to defeat Gisela Dulko in three, and Zheng Jie falling easily to Russian 17-year-old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. No.6 seed Shahar Peer also advanced, but at the expense of crowd favorite Kimiko Data Krumm.
 
Awarded a wildcard to an event she won four times in the 1990s, Date Krumm was making her second attempt to return to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, having failed to qualify at the Pan Pacific Open two weeks ago. Although the 38-year-old has won three ITF titles since launching her comeback in April, today she struggled to hold serve against Peer's powerful returns. The match was over in 69 minutes, 63 61.
 
"It's not easy to fill the blank of 11 years and a half," the world No.228 admitted afterwards. “Today's loss left me with a mixed feeling. I was disappointed, but it's not so bad considering that it's impossible to do in only five months.
 
"I've been playing in order to improve the quality of my tennis," she added. "I felt much better than I did in the Pan Pacific. I couldn't play 100 percent two weeks ago. I'm going to take it positively."
 
Peer, who said she had been excited to play against such a legend, advanced to a second round clash against lucky loser Jarmila Gajdosova, after the Slovak edged Italy's Mara Santangelo in a second set tie-break. But the tournament’s first real upset saw No.3 seed Zheng overwhelmed 61 62 by Pavlyuchenkova, whose best result has been a third round showing at Wimbledon. Later, No.4 seed Maria Kirilenko, coming off her third title of the year at Seoul, was unable to last the distance against Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic, who won their match 46 62 75.
 
Restoring order after a slow start, No.1 seed Wozniacki was able to avoid a similar fate against Argentina's Dulko, winning 46 60 63; No.7 seed Tamarine Tanasugarn and No.8 seed Aleksandra Wozniak also prevailed, with respective wins over qualifier Stéphanie Dubois and 2002 champion Jill Craybas.
 
Unseeded Yanina Wickmayer and Camille Pin moved through to the second round as well, along with two Japanese qualifiers who gave local fans cause for cheer. Rika Fujiwara beat Petra Cetkovska 76(6) 64, while Ryoko Fuda upset experienced Frenchwoman Pauline Parmentier 75 64. Fujiwara also has the honor of playing doubles with Date Krumm; on Wednesday the pair takes on Cetkovska and Lucie Safarova.