Nine Russians make next round of Australian Open after Day One
Five Russian women and four men progressed to the next round of the 2008 Australian Open tennis championship, which opened on Monday and is to run through January 27.
Only two out of the seven Russians playing in the women's singles on Day One failed to get through to the next round. Vera Zvonaryova, seeded 23, retired during the second set of her match against Japan's Ai Sugiyama due to a foot injury, while another Russian, Yekaterina Ivanova lost to Meng Yuan from China 6-4, 4-6, 2-6.
In other matches, Maria Sharapova (5) confidently defeated in straight sets
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Jelena Kostanic Tosic from Croatia 6-4, 6-3; Yelena Dementyeva (11) eased past Tzipora Obziler from Israel 6-2, 6-2; Olga Puchkova had no problems against Australia's Monique Adamczak 6-4, 6-0; Yelena Vesnina overcame Yulia Vakulenko (32) from Ukraine 6-4, 1-6, 6-4; and finally, Yaroslava Shvedova enjoyed a straight sets victory in a match with Germany's Tatjana Malek 6-2, 6-2.
In the men's singles all four Russians playing on Day 1 successfully cleared the first round as Nikolai Davydenko (4) defeated Michael Llodra of France 7-5,7-5, 6-3; Mikhail Yuzhny (14) beat another Frenchman, Mathieu Montcourt, 6-0, 6-2, 7-6 (7-1); Yevgeny Korolyov overcame Marcel Granollers-Pujol of Spain 7-5, 6-2, 6-0 and Igor Andreyev (31) knocked out in a tough match Andrei Pavel from Romania 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.
Another 10 Russians - eight women and two men - will begin their fight for the champion's titles in women's and men's singles on the second day of the tournament.
In the women's singles, the World No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova (2) will face Nathalie Dechy of France, Anna Chakvetadze (6) will play Andrea Petkovic from Germany, Nadezhda Petrova (14) will take on Australia's Nicole Pratt, Dinara Safina (16) is to test her skills against Germany's Sabine Lisicki, Maria Kirilenko (27) is up against Meilen Tu from the United States, Alisa Kleibanova has a match against Shuai Peng from China, Alla Kudryavtseva is to look to overcome Ukraine's Alyona Bondarenko (21) and Yekaterina Makarova is involved in a match against Hungary's Agnes Szavay (20).
In the men's singles, the winner of the 2008 Medibank International tennis tournament in Sydney, Australia, Dmitry Tursunov (32) is to face Xavier Malisse from Belgium while Marat Safin will play Ernests Gulbis of Latvia.
Five Russian women and four men progressed to the next round of the 2008 Australian Open tennis championship, which opened on Monday and is to run through January 27.
