Kuznetsova, Schiavone ease into second round at China Open
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Xinhua, October 2, 2011
Two-time champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and Francesca Schiavone on Saturday were hardly tested in respective openers at China Open.
Kuznetsova had an easy time of it when her opponent Ajexandra Dulgheru of Romania pulled out trailing 6-2, 4-1 while seventh seed Schiavone wrapped up the last five games before beating Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia 6-1, 6-3.
Kuznetsova, the 2006 and 2009 winner, had a rough season this year with her ranking slipping to the 19th. Talking about her form, she said: "I did not play my best this season. I've been looking for my best form and unfortunately I found it at the end of the season."
"I lost my concentration in some of the matches, I failed to find the best timing to hit the ball and sometimes my rivals get used to my game quickly. Now I have come back to my track and it's good that the season comes to an end," she added.
About the match, the 26-year-old Russian said it should've been more exciting but her opponent was not in the top form. "I know her knee was injured before," the Russian said.
Coming up next for the Russian will be the winner of the match between Ana Ivanovic and Kimiko Date-Krumm.
In the first match of the main draw, Schiavone, the French Open runner-up, made a flying start by storming to 6-1 in the opening set. But the 19-year-old Jovanovski, ranked 57th in the world, seemed undaunted in the second set and clawed back with a break in the fourth game to lead at 3-1.
The experienced Schiavone, who lost to China's Li Na in the French Open, stayed cool headed and turned around the situation by winning the last five games to secure the match at 6-1.
Elsewhere, the 2008 winner and 10th seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia saved one match point but still lost to Tamira Paszek of Austria 7-5, 6-4 while 15th seeded Roberta Vinci of Italy beat Rebecca Marino from Canada 6-4, 6-3.
Other winners on Saturday included Australian Jarmila Gajdosova, who defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-3, 6-0 and Swede Sofia Arvidsson, who overcame a second set slump to beat Alona Bondarenko from Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5.
