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MOSCOW, Russia - Russia's Top 3 took the court at the Kremlin Cup on Wednesday, but only two survived. Svetlana Kuznetsova, one of this season's hottest players, was the biggest surprise of the day, falling quietly to one of the many other Russians in the draw, Vera Zvonareva. Maria Sharapova and Nadia Petrova managed to advance in straight sets.
Kuznetsova, seeded No.3 this week, had been playing arguably the best tennis of the fall season, claiming consecutive titles at Bali and Beijing and reaching the semis last week at Stuttgart. But not only did she look uncomfortable on the brand new Kremlin Cup court surface, she was also up against inspired former Top 10 player Zvonareva, who has had an impressive year herself. Zvonareva went for her shots from start to finish, and never faced a break point during the 61 63 dismantling.
"It was an advantage for me to play a match already, as she had a first round bye," said Zvonareva, who was 2-7 lifetime against Kuznetsova coming in. "The court is a bit sticky but I was already used to it. The score may make the match look like it was easy, but to play someone like Svetlana is never easy. We have always had tough matches. I kept going for my shots, and today it worked."
Zvonareva's victory over the No.4-ranked Kuznetsova represents the sixth Top 10 victory of her career and first in nearly two years. It is just her second Top 5 victory, having beaten a No.3-ranked Venus Williams at Roland Garros in 2003. The Russian, who has been as high as No.9 herself, is now through to her third Kremlin Cup quarterfinal.
Playing for the first time since capturing her second Grand Slam title at the US Open, Sharapova was also a little bit out of sorts, but still managed to advance in two sets, 64 75, over qualifier Ekaterina Bychkova. The Russian teenager won a routine first set but ran into some problems with her aggressive opponent in the second, fighting back from a 5-3 deficit and saving a set point en route to the win.
"Considering this was my first match in four weeks, it was a good performance," Sharapova said. "I got a bit sloppy in the second set, but I stepped it up when I needed to. It was great to have the support of the crowd. When you play a fellow Russian, you have to expect the fan support to be even, but the atmosphere was great tonight."
"I didn't want to think about winning the set," Bychkova said. "I've seen others get her into the same situation where they have set point against her and I didn't want to think about it, just play each point then see what happens. I didn't play so well against her serve, and my serve was not too good today, but it was a good experience to play against Maria, especially here in Moscow."
Sharapova and Zvonareva were contesting the first two second round matches of the week.
Petrova, who came into her home event fresh off a fifth title of the season in Stuttgart, cruised in one of three first round matches on the Wednesday schedule, ousting Anna-Lena Groenefeld, 62 62. The No.5-seeded Russian was in complete control from start to finish, particularly on her serve; she smacked eight aces and never even faced a break point in eight service games. She won in 54 minutes.
In the other two first round matches played, Samantha Stosur fought past Swiss qualifier Emmanuelle Gagliardi, 46 63 62, and No.6 seed Patty Schnyder blitzed an injury-returned Chanda Rubin, 63 60. It was the third consecutive early round encounter between Schnyder and Rubin, the Swiss also winning in the second round of Luxembourg two weeks ago and in the first round of Stuttgart last week.
Twelve players will battle for the six remaining quarterfinal spots Thursday. Top seed Amélie Mauresmo makes her first appearance of the week against Elena Vesnina, who pulled off a miraculous first round victory over Li Na on Tuesday. No.4 seed Elena Dementieva also plays her first match of the week, taking on Israel's Shahar Peer.
Two seeded doubles teams were in action Wednesday, but only one managed to survive. No.3 seeds Kveta Peschke and Francesca Schiavone won their first round match easily, but No.2 seeds Cara Black and Rennae Stubbs were given an early dismissal by veterans Janette Husarova and Elena Likhovtseva, 64 46 63.
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