Tue Sep 23 11:54:07 2008

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Chakvetadze, Szavay win Beijing openers

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Beijing, China (Sports Network) - Eighth-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze and reigning champion Agnes Szavay highlighted Tuesday's first- round winners at the $600,000 China Open.

Chakvetadze got past Czech lucky-loser Iveta Benesova 6-4, 7-5, while an unseeded Szavay zipped past qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-3 on the hardcourts at Beijing Tennis Center. The Hungarian Szavay upset Serbian star Jelena Jankovic in last year's title match here.

Up next for Chakvetadze will be Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova on Thursday, while Szavay will encounter Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues here on Wednesday.

Chinese favorite Jie Zheng was leading sixth-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska 3-0 on Day 2 when their match was suspended because of rain.

In other matches involving Chinese women, all losses for the host nation, Russian qualifier Alla Kudryavtseva clipped wild card Shuai Peng 7-5, 6-4; Japan's Ai Sugiyama leveled wild card Zi Yan 6-3, 6-4; France's Alize Cornet edged out qualifier Shuai Zhang 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (9-7); and Italian Francesca Schiavone topped wild card Na Li 6-1, 7-6 (7-4). Peng was last week's runner- up in Guangzhou. Schiavone is rewarded with a second-round match against last week's Guangzhou titlist, Vera Zvonareva, on Wednesday.

Additional Day-2 wins came for Canadian qualifier Aleksandra Wozniak and Thai veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn.

This week's top seeds are former world No. 1 Serbs Jankovic and French Open champion and Australian Open runner-up Ana Ivanovic. The U.S. Open runner-up Jankovic will open her week against Wozniak here on Wednesday, while Ivanovic will meet Cornet on Thursday.

The 2008 titlist here will collect $95,500.