Seeds scattered in Seoul

 

Originally published on: 23/09/10 10:23

After Tuesday’s washout in Seoul, three of the top four seeds had ‘damp squib’ moments yesterday, exiting the Korea Open at the second hurdle.

World No.19 Nadia Petrova – the tournament’s top seed – defeated Vania King 6-3 6-4 to reach the third round, but Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Maria Kirilenko and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez all suffered shock defeats.

Second-seed Pavlyuchenkova was beaten 6-2 6-1 by defending champion Kimiko Date Krumm, who, a week away from her 40th birthday, is 21 years older than the Russian teenager.

The score was perhaps slightly misleading, given that six of the 12 games Date Krumm won went to deuce, but the Tokyo-native clinched the crucial points to set up a third round clash with eighth-seed Agnes Szavay.

In an-all Russian encounter, former Seoul champ Maria Kirilenko lost 6-2 6-3 to wildcard Dinara Safina, who she had comfortably beaten when the pair met ahead of the US Open.

“The last time we played it wasn’t so long ago, in New Haven just before the US Open,” said the former world No.1 after claiming just her 13th match win of the year.

“She played better than me that day. The good thing in tennis is every week there’s a new tournament. I realized what I did wrong that day and just tried to do better this time.”

Fourth seed Martinez Sanchez lost 6-4 7-5 to fellow left-hander Ekaterina Makarova, while there were also wins for Kirsten Flipkens and Klara Zakopalova, who defeated Ana Ivanovic’s conqueror Vera Dushevina.

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