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Zvonareva and Safin tumble out at Kremlin Cup

Marat Safin of Russia reacts after losing a point to his compatriot Evgeny Korolev during their Kremlin Cup match at the Olympic stadium in Moscow on Thursday. PHOTO: REUTERS

Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova crushed top seed Vera Zvonareva 6-0, 6-2 in the second round of the Kremlin Cup on Thursday, eliminating the Russian from the women’s season-ending tournament in Doha.

Zvonareva’s defeat enabled second seed Jelena Jankovic to clinch the last remaining spot in next week’s WTA championships regardless of her own progress in Moscow.

Poland’s third seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who also had a shot at qualifying for Doha at the start of the week, saw her chances disappear after a first-round defeat by Russia’s Maria Kirilenko on Wednesday.

Last year’s losing men’s finalist Marat Safin followed Zvonareva out of his home tournament, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, going down to fellow Russian Evgeny Korolev 6-4, 7-6 on the last match of the day on center court.

Former world No. 1 Safin could not reproduce the heroics that saw him dismantle top seed Nikolay Davydenko in the first round just 24 hours before.

Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria returns a shot during her second-round match against Vera Zvonareva of Russia at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow on Thursday. PHOTO: EPA

“It just didn’t work out for me today,” said the 29-year-old, who is retiring at the end of the season.

“He had nothing to lose, no pressure whatsoever playing against me, so he was able to fire winners almost at will,” Safin said. “I really wanted to do well here, this being my last year, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.”

Jankovic stayed on course to defend her Kremlin Cup title with a 7-6, 6-3 victory over Czech Lucie Safarova to reach the quarter-­finals, where she will meet unseeded Russian Alisa Kleybanova.

Zvonareva, however, was not too disappointed to miss out on the US$4.55 million extravaganza.

“I’m happy my season is over,” the world No. 7, who has been nursing a long-term ankle injury, told a news conference. “Now I’ll have enough time to recover and get ready for a new season.”

Pironkova, 22, was overjoyed with her victory, only her fourth of the year on the main tour and first since April.

“This is the biggest win ever for me, definitely,” said the world No. 126, who will face Ukraine’s Alona Bondarenko in the last eight.



■STOCKHOLM OPEN

AP, STOCKHOLM

Robin Soderling beat Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-1, 6-3 on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals at the Stockholm Open.

The top-seeded Swede, playing in front of another partisan sellout center court crowd at the Royal Tennis Hall, has not lost a set in his two first matches. He broke Seppi twice and never faced break point in the opening set.

Soderling, a surprise finalist in the French Open this year and ranked 10th in the world, will next play Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain.

Olivier Rochus rallied to beat eighth-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in another second-round match.

Jarkko Nieminen of Finland advanced to the last eight without hitting a shot as his second-seeded opponent Tommy Haas withdrew because of the flu.

Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus and qualifier Arnaud Clement of France joined them in the quarter-finals.



■LUXEMBOURG OPEN

AP, LUXEMBOURG

Patty Schnyder beat Kim Clijsters 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6) to reach the Luxembourg Open quarter-finals on Thursday. Schnyder, the former top-10 player ranked No. 47, will play Sabine Lisicki of Germany in the quarter-finals.

Another Belgian, Yanina Wickmayer, did better. She beat France’s Alize Cornet 7-5, 7-6 (6) to earn a match against compatriot Kirsten Flipkens.

Earlier Thursday, No. 4-seeded Daniela Hantuchova won a marathon second-round match against Czech Lucie Hradecka 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 to advance and will play her quarter-final against Israel’s Shahar Peer, who beat No. 8 Carla Suarez Navarro 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.
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