Mon May 12 12:44:25 2008

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Zvonareva, Szavay advance in Rome

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Rome, Italy (Sports Network) - Tenth-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva and 11th- seeded Hungarian Agnes Szavay were among Monday's first-round winners at the $1.34 million Italian Open, a clay-court French Open tune-up.

Zvonareva drubbed Japan's Ai Sugiyama 6-3, 6-3, while Szavay dismantled Chinese Zi Yan 6-1, 6-1 at Foro Italico. The hot Zvonareva is fresh off her title in Prague two weeks ago and currently riding a six-match overall winning streak, which includes a Fed Cup victory last month. The surging Russian also posted a runner-up finish against American Serena Williams in Charleston last month and has reached at least the quarterfinals in six straight and eight of her nine events so far this season.

The 23-year-old Zvonareva quietly leads the WTA Tour with 32 match wins this year.

Seventeenth-seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone moved on Monday with a 6-4, 7-5 decision against Czech Lucie Safarova.

Also on Monday, last week's surprise Berlin champion, Dinara Safina, pulled out of Rome, citing a back injury. The capable Russian stunned Justine Henin and Williams on her way to the final at the German Open, where she upset Elena Dementieva in an all-Russian finale.

Safina was the Italian Open runner-up two years ago.

Serbian Jelena Jankovic defeated Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in last year's Rome finale.

This year's Rome titlist will collect $196,900.