Zvonareva is looking for her
third Pattaya title and led 5-1 in the second set before being broken when she
tried to serve out the match. However, she broke right back to clinch the
victory.
The eighth-ranked Zvonareva
will play Sorana Cirstea of Romania, who beat Japan’s Misaki Doi 6-2, 6-2.
Thai veteran Tamarine
Tanasugarn also advanced after saving three set points in the first-set
tiebreaker to beat Chang Kai-chen of Taiwan 7-6 (7) 6-3.
In Paris, American qualifier
Bethanie Mattek-Sands finished off Kristina Barrois of Germany with her 10th
ace Wednesday to secure a 7-6 (3), 6-2 win and reach the second round of the
Open GDF Suez.
Barrois rallied from a 4-1
deficit to force a first-set tiebreaker. But Mattek-Sands won six straight
points to take the first set before breaking Barrois twice in the second.
Roberta Vinci of Italy, Klara
Zakopalova of the Czech Republic and Monica Niculescu of Romania also advanced.
The seventh-seeded Vinci beat
Simona Halep of Romania 6-4, 6-4.
Niculescu outlasted Jarmila
Gajdosova of Australia 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in an erratic match that saw 14 service
breaks.
Zakopalova cruised past
French wild card Alize Cornet 6-3, 6-1 by winning eight straight games to take
the first set and a 5-0 lead in the second.
On Tuesday, French Open
champion Li Na of China and Serbia's Jelena Jankovic were both forced to
withdraw because of injuries.
Third-seeded Li withdrew
while trailing Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova 7-6 (7/5), 3-2 in their first round
tie at the Paris-Coubertin Stadium.
Li was visibly suffering with
a back problem and finally called it a day after receiving treatment courtside.
"I hurt myself in the
Fed Cup at the weekend," explained Li.
"It had gotten better
since and this morning it didn't hurt. But the stab of pain returned, very
strong and I couldn't continue.
"I don't know if it's
because of the Fed Cup, maybe I'm getting old as well," added Li, who
turns 30 later this month.
Earlier world No. 13 Jankovic, the fourth seed, withdrew
after failing to recover from a left thigh injury she picked up during her win
over Belgium Kirsten Flipkens in Serbia's Fed Cup World Group first round
success last weekend.
"I had hoped that after
treatment I could still play here but unfortunately it's impossible," said
Jankovic. "Australia (Open) and the Fed Cup and then here, that's a lot.
But it's important for me to play for my country."
Sanchez Vicario says $60M in
career winnings gone
In Madrid, former tennis star
Arantxa Sanchez Vicario said in a book published Tuesday that her parents lost
an estimated $60 million in career earnings through mismanagement.
The 40-year-old Sanchez
Vicario said her parents were obsessed with her tennis career and controlled
most aspects of it. She said she’s estranged from her parents and brothers
Emilio and Javier, former tennis players.
The four-time Grand Slam
singles champion said she got a monthly payment from her father and trusted him
to invest the rest.
“I never doubted that my
father would manage my assets in the most efficient and beneficial way,” she
wrote.
She retired in 2002, and
after “breaking free” of her parents’ influence, “the surprise came. Then, the
disappointment. The surprise of finding myself without resources after a career
full of successes and therefore winnings.”
She added: “They left me with
nothing and I owe the tax authorities.
“How can it be that
everything I achieved has vanished, that it does not exist?”
Sanchez Vicario’s mother,
Marisa, responded in an open letter to Spanish media on Monday that she and her
husband were devastated by their daughter’s accusations.
Lengthy excerpts of the book
ran in the newspaper El Mundo over the weekend.
Marisa Vicario Rubio insisted
“we never took advantage of Arantxa and under no circumstances is she broke.”
She said her 75-year-old
husband, Emilio, has a weak heart, intestinal cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
Sanchez Vicario won three
French Open titles and the US Open. She added 10 more Grand Slam doubles or
mixed doubles titles.
She helped Spain win the Fed
Cup five times, and was the first Spanish woman elected to the International
Tennis Hall of Fame in 2007.
In December, she became
Spain’s Fed Cup captain.
