Fifth seed Roberto Bautista-Agut of Spain advanced to the second round of the Kremlin Cup on Monday thanks to a straight-sets victory over Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov.
At the ATP and WTA combined event in the Russian capital, Bautista-Agut, who suffered an opening-round defeat in his maiden appearance in 2012, won 6-3, 6-4 in his first meeting against Kuznetsov to keep alive his slim chances of making it into the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London.
“I feel good as I think I’ve played a solid match. I returned well and also served well tonight,” world No. 16 Bautista-Agut said.
“I have a lot of confidence after performing well in Shanghai and I’m looking forward to the next match here,” she added.
Meanwhile, Italy’s eighth seed and 2012 winner Andreas Seppi reached the second round as he disposed of Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic 7-5, 6-4.
“It was a good start, a good first-round win for me and I’m happy about today’s performance,” Seppi said. “I have nice memories about my past experiences in Moscow after winning a title two years ago and being in the semi-finals last year.”
In the women’s event, two-time Grand Slam champion and fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova barely broke sweat as she cruised into the next round when the Czech Republic’s Klara Koukalova retired after losing the first set 6-1.
The 29-year-old Russian, No. 26th in the world, looked in complete command from the start and broke twice to take the opening set in 30 minutes.
After that the Czech veteran Koukalova, 32, retired blaming a viral illness for her withdrawal from the match.
“It wasn’t bad at all to play a short match today,” Kuznetsova said.
“I always prefer to start the tournament from the very beginning to when you have an opening round bye. It’s sometimes hard to play against an opponent who has already adjusted to the surface and the arena,” she said.
STOCKHOLM OPEN
AP, STOCKHOLM
Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen and Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia both advanced to the second round of the Stockholm Open with straight-set wins on Monday.
In his 15th appearance at the tournament, Nieminen beat Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-4, 6-4.
Gabashvili defeated Alejandro Falla of Colombia 6-2, 6-4.
Nieminen put constant pressure on his opponent’s serve, but only converted three of the 11 break points he created. Gabashvili broke Falla six times — three in each set — but lost his serve three times as well.
Australia’s Bernard Tomic also made it through by defeating Patrik Rosenholm of Sweden 7-6 (7/1), 5-7, 6-4, in a match that lasted nearly two hours.
Top-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, making his fifth appearance at the tournament, has a bye into the second round.
Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, the defending champion, also has a bye into the second round. Dimitrov is competing at Stockholm for the fourth time.
LUXEMBOURG OPEN
AP, LUXEMBOURG
Sixth-seeded Roberta Vinci of Italy reached the second round of the Luxembourg Open with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Tereza Smitkova of the Czech Republic on Monday.
Struggling with her first serve, the 2010 champion was broken twice, but converted six of 11 break points against her 84th-ranked opponent.
Vinci was joined in the next round by eighth-seeded Monica Niculescu of Romania, who defeated Germany’s Antonia Lottner 6-2, 6-2.
Top-seeded Andrea Petkovic is headlining the field at the US$250,000 hard-court tournament.
The three seeded players in action on Monday all advanced as No. 4 Barbora Zahlavova Strycova won 6-4, 6-3 against Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain.
Germany’s Mona Barthel and Jana Cepelova of Slovakia also won in straight sets, while Italian Karin Knapp retired after just five games of her match against Patricia Mayr-Achleitner of Austria.
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