EASTBOURNE, England, 14 June 2005 — Seeds Vera Zvonareva and Nathalie Dechy were wafted into the second round on a windy opening day at the Eastbourne WTA grasscourt tournament yesterday.

Russian Zvonareva, the fifth seed, beat Czech Nicole Vaidisova 6-3, 6-2 while Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy, the No. 8, made short work of Amanda Janes, one of the two British wild cards in the draw, winning 6-1, 6-1 in 63 minutes.

Eastbourne, a sedate resort on England’s south coast, is known for its gentle sea breezes. On Monday, the gusts across Devonshire Park’s centre court were rather stronger and blew the sun hats from spectators’ heads as players fought to toss a straight ball.

Zvonareva and Vaidisova both struggled to hold serve in the first set of a baseline battle before the Russian broke to go 5-3 up.

Zvonareva, 20, hit two double faults in the ninth game and wasted a set point. She wandered to the back of the court, where she gave herself a good ticking off, before hitting an ace on her second set point to close the set in 42 minutes.

The Russian was swiftly 4-0 up in the second set and, despite losing her serve in the sixth game, took advantage of poor serving by Vaidisova to break back and go on to clinch the match with an ace.

Janes, the daughter of 1961 Wimbledon finalist Christine Truman, also found the wind problematic and hit seven double faults - each one producing a collective sigh of disappointment from the partisan crowd.

Janes saved four set points but then lost it with a double fault. Dechy, ranked 18th in the world, then rattled off the first five games of the second set.

The Frenchwoman, a semifinalist at the Australian Open this year, will meet either Japan’s Ai Sugiyama or Amy Frazier of the United States in the second round.

Second Seed Coria Enjoys Comfortable Start

In Den Bosch, Netherlands, second seed Guillermo Coria made a confident start to his bid for a first grasscourt title by beating German lucky loser Lars Uebel 6-3, 6-1 yesterday to reach the Ordina Open second round.

The Argentine, runner-up to Frenchman Michael Llodra last year, made light of the cool, breezy conditions to set up a match with Czech Jan Hernych or Dutch wild card Dennis van Scheppingen. “I took the opportunities I had and this gives me a lot of confidence,” said Coria, who was making his first appearance since his surprise defeat by Nikolay Davydenko in the French Open fourth round.

Coria dominated the 24-year-old Uebel, who was playing his first ATP Tour event, wrapping up the first set with an ace and breaking in the opening game of the second before easing to victory. As one of the favorites at Roland Garros, Coria’s defeat by Davydenko was a big surprise, but the Argentine said he’d been working hard since to get ready for Wimbledon.

Defending champion Llodra won his first match since March as he edged out German qualifier Denis Gremelmayr, the world No. 379, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6, while fifth seed Robin Soderling was among other early winners on day one.

Top seed Tommy Robredo of Spain opens his title bid later against Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.

In the women’s event, Martina Navratilova, who accepted a wildcard to the event as extra preparation for her doubles commitments at Wimbledon next week, gave Claudine Schaul of Luxembourg a huge scare before bowing out in the first round.

Schaul, the world No. 166, looked overawed by the occasion as the nine-times Wimbledon champion, aged 48, came from 3-1 down to win the first set. As the match went on, however, Schaul grew in confidence, racing through the second set and though Navratilova hit back from 5-2 to 5-4 in the decider, Schaul served out for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory.