Tue Jul 29 23:47:37 2008

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Kuznetsova reaches third round in Montreal; Dementieva exits early

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Montreal, QC (Sports Network) - U.S. Open runner-up Svetlana Kuznetsova was an easy second-round winner Tuesday at the $1.34 million Rogers Cup tennis event.

The fourth-seeded Kuznetsova was leading qualifier and fellow Russian Alla Kudryavtseva 6-1, 1-0 when Kudryavtseva retired with a right shoulder injury. Kudryavtseva shocked Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon last month.

It was a so-so day for the Russians, as Kuznetsova advanced but two of her countrywomen were upset in their second-round matches.

Fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva was trounced in straights sets by Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, 6-4, 6-2, while fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva dropped her match to Virginie Razzano of France. The eighth-seeded Zvonareva seemed in command of the match while leading 4-1 in the final set, but Razzano battled back to force a tiebreak and an eventual, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7-2) victory.

In some opening-round action on the hardcourts at Uniprix Stadium, 11th- seeded Belarusian Victoria Azarenka whipped American Jamea Jackson 6-1, 6-1; 12th-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova pasted Canada's Marie-Eve Pelletier 6-0, 6-1; 13th-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko handled Brit Anne Keothavong 6-1, 7-5; and 15th-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta overcame Ukrainian Olga Savchuk 1-6, 7-5, 6-3.

A first-round upset occurred when Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama outlasted 16th- seeded Czech Nicole Vaidisova 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

Other opening-round wins came for Poland's Marta Domachowska, American Jill Craybas, Russian Alisa Kleybanova, Austrian Sybille Bammer, Hungarian Melinda Czink and Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak. Domachowska bested American Bethanie Mattek 7-5, 6-2 to setup a meeting with third-seeded and former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova.

Retired Belgian Justine Henin defeated Serbian Jelena Jankovic in last year's Rogers Cup finale, in Toronto. This tournament shifts between Montreal and Toronto each year.

This week's top seeds are world No. 1 French Open champion and Australian Open runner-up Ana Ivanovic, her fellow Serb Jankovic, and the Aussie Open champ Sharapova.

The 2008 Rogers Cup titlist will collect $196,900.