Defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova was unceremoniously bundled out of the first round of the United States Open tennis championships in New York on Monday by fellow Russian Ekaterina Bychkova.
Bychkova (20), ranked 97th in the world, ousted the fifth-seeded Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-2 to reach the second round in her first appearance in the main singles draw of a grand-slam tournament.
Kuznetsova, who had 45 unforced errors to Bychkova’s eight, became the first women’s defending champion to lose in the first round of the US Open.
”Of course I’m disappointed to lose that match,” Kuznetsova said. ”But things happen like this. It has happened to many top players, they lose in the first round. I try to stay strong and take positive things out of this.”
The upset caps a summer of struggles for the Russian, who went three straight tournaments without managing to win more than one match at each before withdrawing from her final Open tune-up because of a lower back strain.
In fact, Kuznetsova hasn’t won a title nor beaten a top 10 player all year.
But another of Russia’s 2004 grand-slam champions, Maria Sharapova, wasted no time in taking the first step toward another major title as she defeated Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou 6-1, 6-1.
Sharapova has yet to add a second grand-slam title to the Wimbledon crown she captured last year, but she has reigned in the realm of endorsements, won three tournaments this year and even ascended, albeit briefly, to the world number-one ranking.
That was last week — just in time to make her the top seed for the year’s final grand-slam ahead of American Lindsay Davenport, who regained the number-one spot on Monday.
Against Daniilidou, Sharapova showed no sign of the right chest-muscle strain that sidelined her shortly before the US Open.
”It’s really good to be back on court competing. That’s where I belong,” she said.
Serena and Venus Williams moved toward a possible fourth-round showdown with straight-set first-round victories.
Eighth-seeded Serena Williams, the reigning Australian Open champion who has been dogged by left ankle and knee problems, defeated Taiwanese qualifier Chan Yung-Jan 6-1, 6-3.
”I’m feeling really good. I’m not feeling too much pain out there,” she said.
But she struggled for a moment in the second against 16-year-old Chan, who went up 3-1 with a service break in the second.
Chan had a chance to make it 4-1 after Williams fired a return long in the next game, but the American instead held on and forced a break of her own to close the gap to 3-2. She finished by winning the last five games to take the match.
”I didn’t get tired,” Williams said of her lacklustre start in the second. ”I just started out flat. I was like ‘Serena, get more pep in your step.”’
Wimbledon champion Venus Williams defeated Japan’s Rika Fujiwara 6-3, 6-1, showing little ill effect from her weeks off the court recovering from flu symptoms.
”I’m OK,” she said. ”I didn’t have the best preparation. At the same time, I feel like I have enough experience to get here and really know what it takes every day and every match.”
Serena said she was sorry their potential meeting would come so early in the tournament.
”I was really upset,” she said of her reaction to the draw. ”But I realised I have to focus on my first round. The only way to think about it is just play to get there, don’t go out before. That’s all we can do.”
If one of the Williamses makes it to the quarterfinals, she will likely find Belgian fourth seed Kim Clijsters waiting.
Clijsters continued her red-hot hard-court form, trouncing German qualifier Martina Muller 6-1, 6-2.
Clijsters, seeking her first career grand-slam title, arrived in Flushing Meadows having won three of four hard-court tournaments she entered in July and August without dropping a set.
Ninth-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova also advanced, downing Czech Eva Birnerova 6-4, 6-4.
Davenport, the 1998 US Open champion who reclaimed the world number-one ranking en route to the WTA title in New Haven on Saturday, opens against China’s Li Na on Tuesday, when French third seed Amelie Mauresmo takes on Italian Roberta Vinci.
Sixth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva, the losing US Open finalist last year, also opens her campaign on Tuesday, as does seventh-seeded Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne — the reigning French Open champion. — Sapa-AFP