September 27, 2007	Thursday	Ramazan 14, 1428

SEOUL, Sept 26: Russian fourth seed Maria Kirilenko cruised into the second round of the Korea Open on Wednesday with a straight-set 7-5, 6-3 mauling of local hope Kim So-Jung.

Kirilenko, the world number 35, joins top seed Venus Williams in the next round. Venus eased into the second round by beating American qualifier Abigail Spears 6-2, 6-3 on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old next faces Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn, who rallied from a set down to eliminate Australia’s Casey Dellacqua 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Cameras were flashing as Kirilenko played on Wednesday and she refused to sign autographs after her game, but denied she was upset.

In other matches, German sixth seed Martina Muller crashed to Colombia’s Catalina Castano 6-4, 6-2 in the second round, but there were victories for Italy’s Flavia Pennetta, Poland’s Marta Domachowska, and Japan’s Ayumi Morita.

Wednesday’s results (x denotes seeding):

First round: Marta Domachowska (POL) bt Alberta Brianti (ITA) 6-3, 6-2; Maria Kirilenko (RUS x4) bt Kim So-Jung (KOR) 7-5, 6-3.

Second round: Ayumi Morita (JPN) bt Mathilde Johansson (FRA) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; Flavia Pennetta (ITA) bt Pauline Parmentier (FRA) 6-4, 6-4; Catalina Castano (COL) bt Martina Muller (GER x6) 6-4, 6-2.

BERDYCH CURES JET-LAG WITH WIN BANGKOK: Third seed Tomas Berdych cured his jet-leg with a brisk 50-minute workout for an opening win over local wildcard Kittipong Wachiramanowong at the Thailand Open on Wednesday.

The Czech who arrived a day earlier from a Davis Cup win at home against the Roger Federer-led Swiss, admitted that his brief 6-3, 6-0 workout was precisely the tonic after a long flight.

“I just landed on Tuesday morning and it was a tough week for me at the Davis Cup,” said the Bangkok debutant. “This match was an OK way to start. But I certainly want to improve in the next rounds.”

The unranked 17-year-old Wachiramanowong is a future Thai hope making his ATP tournament debut. He played on the Davis Cup team beaten 5-0 by Japan.

Berdych improved to 38-19 in the season in which he won the title at Halle and made semi-finals in Monte Carlo and Munich.

Day two of the event at the Impact arena was marked by the absence of the Swedish contingent, with non-related Davis Cup players Thomas Johansson and Joachim Johansson failing to front up. The ATP officials said Joachim was suffering fatigue while Thomas had a back injury.

The event was been hit by pullouts by top players including world numbers two and three Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic plus Korean’s Lee Hyung-taik, the top Asian on the ATP.

Spain’s Fernando Verdasco, seeded eighth, emerged a survivor after compatriots Carlos Moya, seeded fifth, and Feliciano Lopez both lost in the first round on Tuesday.

Verdasco beat American David Martin, ranked outside the top 500, by a 6-2, 6-1 scoreline.

Wednesday’s results:

First round: Nick Lindahl (AUS) bt Sam Querrey (US) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3; Igor Kunitsyn (RUS) bt George Bastl (SUI) 6-3, 6-4; Fernando Verdasco (ESP x8) bt David Martin (US) 6-2, 6-1; Tomas Berdych (CZE x3) bt Kittipong Wachiramanowong (THA) 6-3, 6-0.—AFP