Pennetta opens with victory

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:06

Pennetta comes into this event fresh off an impressive showing in Zurich, where she upset top-ranked Jelena Jankovic before falling to Venus Williams in Sunday’s final.

As a result of that performance, the 26-year-old has reached a career-high ranking of 14th.

Seeking her third title of the season, Pennetta will reach the 50-win plateau for the first time in her career with a win over Dominika Cibulkova in the second round.

In one of two second-round matches slated at this Tier II tournament, Agnieszka Radwanska picked up a 6-2 6-4 win over Estonian qualifier Kaia Kanepi.

The 19-year-old Pole is enjoying a career season with three titles and a 52-19 record, however, she is just 8-6 over her last six tournaments prior to this and has not played in a semifinal during that span.

Eighth-seeded Frenchwoman Alize Cornet bounced back from a poor opening set to defeat Russia’s Maria Kirilenko 1-6 6-2 6-1 in Wednesday’s other second-round match.

Cornet, 18, advanced to the third round for the first time in five appearances where she will face the winner of second-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva and Spaniard Nuria Llagostera Vives.

Petra Kvitova has moved through the first round along with Sybille Bammer, who will be rewarded with a match against top-seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic.

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