Wimbledon champion Venus Williams was beaten in the opening round for the second time in 12 tournaments this season, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to Flavia Pennetta of Italy at the Kremlin Cup on Tuesday.
The sixth-seeded American, who also lost in the first round at Memphis in March, dropped to 1-3 against Pennetta.
“I totally came here because I love winning,” Williams said. “I have never won this title, but I just had a day where I could not control my game. She played well.”
PHOTO: EPA
Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva, two Russian seeds who have never reached the final of their home event, won their first-round matches.
On the men’s side, where Russians have won nine of the last 11 Cups, the winners included two-time defending champion Nikolay Davydenko and Marat Safin, runner-up to Davydenko in 2006.
Pennetta and Williams traded breaks in the first set before the Italian broke decisively on her third chance in the ninth game with a lob.
PHOTO: EPA
Williams broke twice in the second set, but dropped serve in the first game of the third and never recovered.
Davydenko beat Florent Serra of France 6-1, 7-5, and seventh-seeded Safin struggled past Israeli qualifier Noam Okun 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4 to begin his 12th attempt to win the hometown event.
Davydenko, who also won the title in 2004, improved his record in Moscow to 16-2.
PHOTO: EPA
“I would like to defend my title here, but as usual I’m my worst enemy,” Davydenko said.
Uzbek qualifier Denis Istomin upset sixth-seeded Michael Llodra 7-6 (2), 6-3 in only his second ATP match.
The 121st-ranked Istomin broke decisively in the sixth game of the second set and will face French veteran Fabrice Santoro in the second round.
Eighth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia rallied to beat Russian qualifier Alexandre Kudryavtsev 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6), and Robby Ginepri of the US beat Jiri Vanek of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4.
Former US Open champion Kuznetsova beat Li Na of China 6-4, 7-5.
Li ended Serena Williams’ reign as No. 1 last week in Stuttgart, but had to play catchup with fifth-seeded Kuznetsova in both sets.
Kuznetsova led 4-1 in the second set and had two match points serving at 5-3 before Li evened it at 5-5.
However, the Russian broke the next game and then served out the match on her fourth match point.
Kuznetsova, ranked No. 7, has lost all seven of her WTA Tour finals this season.
Seventh-seeded Zvonareva ousted Maria Kirilenko 6-4, 6-4 and Ekaterina Makarova beat Elena Vesnina 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1) in all-Russian matches.
■ BA TENNIS TROPHY
AP, VIENNA
German qualifier Philipp Petzschner rallied to upset top-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka 6-7 (5), 6-2, 7-6 (5) in the first round of the BA Tennis Trophy on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, second-seeded Fernando Gonzalez won in a comeback, but No. 7 Gilles Simon exited.
Petzschner had two early breaks but still lost the opening set to Wawrinka after double-faulting in the tiebreaker.
“This was my first match against a top-10 player, so it’s definitely my biggest win so far,” the 125th-ranked Petzschner said.
He added three more breaks to win the second. He went 5-3 up in the decider, but ultimately closed out the win on his second match point in the tiebreaker when Wawrinka netted a backhand.
The 10th-ranked Wawrinka became the top-seeded player after last year’s champion Novak Djokovic and James Blake withdrew from the tournament.
Gonzalez, runner-up in 2006, came back from a set down to beat Simone Bolelli of Italy 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2.
The Chilean, who beat Bolelli in the Munich final in April, scored just five points on the Italian’s serve in the opening set, but he controlled the match from the baseline in the second and third sets.
Sixth-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain pulled out with a left hip injury and was replaced in the draw by Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, who beat Stefan Koubek of Austria 6-1, 6-2. It was Koubek’s first match on the ATP circuit in more than six months due to a back injury.
Eduardo Schwank of Argentina upset Simon of France 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5), while Juergen Melzer of Austria fought off two set points before beating two-time champion Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 7-6 (3), 6-3.
Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany also advanced to the second round after beating Marc Gicquel of France 6-2, 6-2, Radek Stepanek downed fellow Czech Pavel Snobel 6-4, 6-2, and Ernests Gulbis of Latvia defeated Filippo Volandri of Italy 6-2, 6-3.
■ STOCKHOLM OPEN
AP, STOCKHOLM
One Swede ended his retirement with a victory and another hastened the end of his career with a defeat at the Stockholm Open on Tuesday.
Joachim Johansson, a former top-10 player who retired a year ago due to a shoulder injury, won in his first match since last year’s Open when he beat Nicolas Mahut of France 7-5, 7-6 (5).
The 26-year-old Johansson fired 20 aces, and didn’t want to think about his next match against top-seeded David Nalbandian.
“To play in front of the family, the Sodertalje fans and everyone else ... it is totally unbeatable,” Johansson told news agency TT. “I did not feel my shoulder at all.”
However, Jonas Bjorkman, who was retiring after this season, played his last singles on home soil when he fell to sixth-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-2, 6-4.
The 36-year-old Bjorkman, who has won six single and 52 doubles titles, received a standing ovation as he left the Royal Tennis Hall.
Argentina’s Nalbandian easily advanced to the second round by beating Bobby Reynolds of the US 6-1, 6-1.
Second-seeded Mario Ancic of Croatia overcame a slow start to beat Olivier Rochus of Belgium 7-6 (6), 6-2. He will face Steve Darcis of Belgium, who ousted countryman Christophe Rochus 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Fifth-seeded Rainer Schuettler of Germany easily ousted Chris Guccione of Australia 6-0, 6-3 and will next meet Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador.
Sixth-seeded Jose Acasuso of Argentina, who beat Germany’s Matthias Bachinger 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-6 (4), will play Oscar Hernandez of Spain. Hernandez defeated Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-3.
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