NEW YORK: Svetlana Kuznetsova shook off an early break and rallied to a 7-6, 6-1 victory over Sorana Cirstea in the second round of the US Open yesterday.
Kuznetsova, the 2004 champion and No. 3 seed this year, trailed 4-2 in the opening set before getting back on serve and eventually forcing a tiebreak that she dominated against her 18-year-old opponent. She cruised to a 5-0 lead in the second and closed out the match in 1 hour, 13 minutes at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Anne Keothavong became the first British woman to reach the third round of the US Open since 1991 when she knocked out 25th seed Francesca Schiavone with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 win. Keothavong, beaten by eventual champion Venus Williams in the second round at Wimbledon this year, made a promising start when she broke Schiavone in the opening game of the match.
Olympic bronze medalist Vera Zvonareva, of Russia, was sent crashing out of the US Open, losing her second round match 6-3, 6-3 to unseeded Tatiana Perebiynis. For the 23-year-old Zvonareva this is the first time she hasn’t made it to at least the third round in her sixth US Open appearance.
Olympic champion Elena Dementieva stepped up a gear to reach the third round with a 6-2, 6-1 demolition of Pauline Parmentier of France.
On the men’s side, fifth seed Nikolay Davydenko shrugged off his recent poor form to charge into the second round with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 win over Israel’s Dudi Sela.
No. 15 seed Patty Schnyder also moved into the third round with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the US Open girls’ champion two years ago.
Meanwhile, Serena Williams took a more direct approach. Favored by oddsmakers to win the women’s title, she overwhelmed Kateryna Bondarenko with her serve in a 6-1, 6-4 victory on Tuesday.
Seventh-seeded Venus Williams advanced, too, beating Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-3. Roger Federer, aiming for his fifth straight US Open title, eliminated Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez 6-3, 6-0, 6-3 in the last stadium match of the night. Gonzalez hung with the former world No. 1 player for a while before Federer won 10 straight games, a run spanning all three sets.
Federer eased into the second round as an unfamiliar second seed. After 237 straight weeks at the top of the rankings, Federer is now behind Rafael Nadal for the first time in 4 1/2 years. Not since the 2004 Australian Open had Federer been seeded anything other than No. 1 at a major. The worst start ever for a No. 1 woman at the US Open came in 1967 when Maria Bueno drew a first-round bye and then lost in the second round. The last top-seeded man to lose in the first round at Flushing Meadows was Stefan Edberg in 1990. No. 9 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, No. 13 Agnes Szavay of Hungary and No. 16 Flavia Pennetta of Italy also advanced.
