BEIJING: Tommy Robredo and Juan Carlos Ferrero had winning starts yesterday in the China Open, which may look like the Spanish Open when it wraps up this weekend.
Robredo defeated Spanish countryman Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4, 7-5 in the first round, and the former top-ranked Ferrero of Spain beat Alexandre Kudryavtsev of Russia 6-4, 6-3.
The top-seeded player in the tournament is from Spain - David Ferrer. He and No. 2 Andy Roddick play first-round matches tomorrow. Both were given extra rest following Spain’s victory over the United States in the Davis Cup semifinals in Madrid last week. Robredo was the runner-up in Beijing a year ago, losing the final to Fernando Gonzalez of Chile. Gonzalez is back this year and seeded No. 3. Six Spaniards started in the first round of the 32-player draw, a strong turnout even without top-ranked Rafa Nadal.
The China Open is a men’s and women’s event being played at the Beijing Tennis Center.
Yesterday was supposed to be a showcase for Chinese women, but it didn’t work out that way. The five Chinese women in the tournament all played first-round matches, and four lost. The last hope was Wimbledon semifinalist Zheng Jie. However, her late match with sixth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland was rained out. Li Na fell to Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-1, 7-6 (4); Yan Zi lost to Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-3, 6-4; Peng Shuai was beaten by Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia 7-5, 6-4; and Zhang Shuai lost to Alize Cornet of France. Defending champion Agnes Szavay of Hungary defeated Yaroslava Shvedova 6-4, 6-3.
Kirilenko advances
at Korea Open
In Seoul, top-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia easily advanced to the second round of the Korea Open yesterday, beating Lenka Wienerova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-0.
Two other seeded players won, while two lost on the hard courts of Olympic Park. Third-seeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia beat Rika Fujiwara of Japan 6-2, 6-7, 6-0, and No. 8 Chan Yung-jan of Taiwan defeated Mara Santangelo of Italy 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Fourth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain and seventh-seeded Marina Erakovic of New Zealand lost, however. Suarez Navarro lost to Klara Zakopalova of Czech Republic 6-1, 6-7, 6-4, and Erakovic fell to Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-2, 6-0.
Other winners included Ayumi Morita of Japan, Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic, Stephanie Dubois of Canada, Jill Craybas of the United States, Ekaterina Makarova of Russia and Anastasia Pivovarova of Russia.
