NEW HAVEN (Connecticut), Aug 24 Anna Chakvetadze ended fourth-seeded Nadia Petrova's final hardcourt tune-up for the US Open with a 0-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 win on Sunday in the first round of the New Haven Open.

“If I had won the second game of the second set, the result would have been like the first set,” said Petrova, ranked No 12 in the world. “When she got that key game, she felt like she was back in the match.”

At one point, Chakvetadze led 5-0 in the third set, but had to withstand one last charge from Petrova before putting her away for the fifth straight match.

In another first-round match, Alona Bondarenko defeated wild-card entry Meghann Shaughnessy, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Taylor Dent won his first-round match in the men's tournament, beating Ivan Ljubicic, 6-3, 6-4, to continue his comeback after retiring following two back operations three years ago.

Dent's ATP singles ranking has risen from No 865 at the start of this season to No 202 at the start of last week.

The American wild-card entry was ranked a career-high 21st in August 2005, before severe back pain put him on the sidelines, including a six-month stretch in a body cast.

David Ferrer, seeded No 4 in the men's main draw, withdrew because of a knee injury without playing a match.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding)

Men's

First round Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) bt Fabio Fognini (Italy) 7-5, 2-0 (Fognini retired); Marc Gicquel (France) bt Martin Vassallo Argueello (Argentina) 6-3, 6-4; Leonardo Mayer (Argentina) bt Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan) 6-2, 6-4; Paul Capdeville (Chile) bt Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) 7-5, 6-3; Florent Serra (France) bt Steve Darcis (Belgium) 6-3, 6-3; Taylor Dent (US) bt Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) 6-3, 6-4.

Women's

First round Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) bt Meghann Shaughnessy (US) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5; Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) bt 4-Nadia Petrova (Russia) 0-6, 7-6(4), 6-4; Sybille Bammer (Austria) bt Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) 7-5, 6-4.—Agencies