Kuznetsova’s flawless play stuns Riske

PERTH, Australia: Former world number two Svetlana Kuznetsova produced virtually errorfree tennis to eliminate Alison Riske from the Auckland Classic earlier today, while former champion Yanina Wickmayer also easily moved into the second round.

Third seed Kuznetsova, who has been blighted by injury and poor form for the best part of two years, has slipped down the rankings and needed a couple of games to get into the groove on the blue hardcourts, and then showed glimpses of the form that propelled her to two grand slam titles.

Riske took the early advantage in both sets before Kuznetsova found her range and began to take over with her serve and booming forehand to run out a 6-3, 6-2 winner in just 75 minutes to set up a second round clash with another American, Christina Mchale.

Seventh-seed Wickmayer, who won the title in 2010 and made the final last year was shunted to an outside court for her opening match but also wasted little time in advancing to the second round with 6-3, 6-4 victory over Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in little over an hour.

Second seed Peng Shuai of China, however, had to battle against France’s Aravane Rezai before she advanced to the second round with a 4-6 6-3 6-4 victory. Peng had numerous troubles against qualifier Rezai in the first set and was looking in further trouble in the second before she kicked into gear and began to dominate from the baseline with heavy groundstrokes.

Rezai became visibly frustrated in the third set, talking to herself and arguing with her coach, before Peng took advantage of her three match points to run out the winner in a shade under two hours when the Frenchwoman’s return of serve ballooned out.

Meanwhile, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark trailed early against Bethanie Mattek-sands but rallied to beat the American 7-6 (4), 6-2 in singles and level their Hopman Cup match at 1-1 yesterday heading into the deciding mixed doubles.

Mardy Fish had given the United States a 1-0 lead in the earlier match, beating Frederik Neilsen 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4.

In another Group A match, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and Tomas Berdych won singles matches to give Czech Republic a 2-1 victory over Bulgaria. Kvitova won the last five games of her match to beat Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4, 6-2 before seventh-ranked Berdych defeated Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-7 (8), 6-3. Pironkova and Dimitrov won the mixed doubles, saving three match points to defeat the Czech pair 2-6, 6-3, 11-9 (match tiebreak) in a result that could help determine Group A placings and decide which teams advance to Saturday’s final.

Today in Group B, Spain will attempt to win their second straight match when they play China. France, 1-0 ahead, will try to keep hosts Australia winless. – Sapa-ap