Home favourites make Moscow progress

Home favourite and third-seed Mikhail Youzhny cruised into the ATP Kremlin Cup second round with a straight-set win over Horacio Zeballos of Argentina here on Monday.

The 27-year-old Russian, 30th in the ATP rankings, came through his first ever meeting with Zeballos 6-1, 7-6 (7/5).

Youzhny started confidently producing three breaks in the opening set which he took in 26 minutes. In the second set Zeballos, ranked 54th in the world, broke early to clinch a 3-1 lead but Youzhny broke back in the sixth to level at 3-3. In the tiebreak Youzhny’s greater accuracy prevailed as he won the set and the match in one hour 26 minutes. Fifth seed Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, 52nd in the ATP rankings, also advanced into the second round beating Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei 6-4, 6-2.

In the WTA section local favourite and fifth seed Nadia Petrova ousted unheralded 17-year-old compatriot Yana Buchina, who is 949th in the world, 6-2, 6-0 in their first ever meeting.

Monte Carlo resident Petrova, 27, looked in command from the start breaking wild card Buchina’s serve twice in the opening set after 31 minutes on court.

In the second set Petrova underlined her domination on the hardcourts, breaking her opponent for a 48-minute win.

MOSCOW, AFP