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SAN DIEGO (California), July 31: Venus Williams continued her Wimbledon-winning form by thrashing Anastasia Rodionova 6-3, 6-0 in the first round of the San Diego Classic on Monday.Playing her first WTA tournament since claiming her fourth Wimbledon crown with a straight-sets defeat of France's Marion Bartoli, Williams looked fresh and powerful in polishing off the outclassed Russian.
Not only was her vaunted backhand smooth but she also punished her opponent with hard forehands.
After an injury-riddled 2006 and shaky start to this season, Williams found her feet in London, thrashing three top-10 players – Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Ana Ivanovic – before beating Bartoli.
Now ranked No 16, the 27-year-old Williams is hoping to emulate the form she showed in 2000 and 2001, when she won back-to-back Wimbledon and US Open titles.
All the seeds that competed on the day got through.
Ninth seeded Russian Elena Dementieva rebounded from an erratic second set to defeat Catalina Castano 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
Number 11 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, who was horrified by her poor play at Stanford last week, turned things around and defeated American Jamea Jackson 6-2, 6-1.
Number 14 Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine out-fought China's Peng Shuai 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and 13th seed Tatiana Golovin of France overcame Argentina's Gisela Dulko 6-1, 2-6, 6-2
Williams and Vania King were the only Americans to post wins as Jackson, Jill Craybas, Laura Granville, Coco Vandeweghe and Brittany Augustine all lost.
On Tuesday, second seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia will face King, who defeated compatriot Asia Muhammed 7-6, 6-0, while fourth seed Nadia Petrova of Russia will go up against compatriot Elena Bovina.
Bartoli, the fifth seed, will also be in action against Japan's Akiko Nakamura, while seventh seed Martina Hingis of Switzerland will go up against Wimbledon quarter-finalist Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands.
Top seed and defending champion Maria Sharapova was scheduled to start her campaign on Wednesday.
Monday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):
First round: 13-Tatiana Golovin (France) beat Gisela Dulko (Argentina) 6-1, 2-6, 6-2; Maria Kirilenko (Russia) beat Hana Sromova (Czech Republic) 6-1, 6-2; 10-Venus Williams (US) beat Anastasia Rodionova (Russia) 6-3, 6-0; Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) beat Laura Granville (US) 6-4, 5-7, 6-4; Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) beat Jill Craybas (US) 6-4, 6-4; Camille Pin (France) beat Tatiana Poutchek (Belarus) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2; Anne Kremer (Luxembourg) beat Akiko Morigami (Japan) 5-7, 6-4, 6-2; 11-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) beat Jamea Jackson (US) 6-2, 6-1; Michaella Krajicek (Netherlands) beat Yuliana Fedak (Ukraine) 6-7 (6-8), 7-5, 6-2; 9-Elena Dementieva (Russia) beat Catalina Castano (Colombia) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1; Angelique Kerber (Germany) beat Brittany Augustine (US) 6-0, 6-1; Aiko Nakamura (Japan) beat Milagros Sequera (Venezuela) 7-5, 0-0 – Sequera retired; 14-Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) beat Peng Shuai (China) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Vania King (US) beat Asia Muhammed (US) 7-6 (7-2), 6-0; Elena Bovina (Russia) beat Coco Vandeweghe (US) 6-3, 7-5.
WASHINGTON: France's Sebastien Grosjean was ousted from the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in the first round after a 6-7, 6-4 6-3 loss to world No 95 Igor Kunitsyn on Monday.
Grosjean, whose world ranking has slipped to 77 from a career-high fourth in 2002, landed only 42 percent of his first serves against the Russian in their first career meeting.
Kunitsyn lost the first-set tiebreaker 7-3 after dropping the final four points.
But the 25-year-old recovered in the second set by getting 58 percent of his first serves in, breaking in the final game to force the contest into a decider.
Kunitsyn then captured the final three games in the deciding set to seal the match and set up a second-round clash with Korean fifth seed Lee Hyung-taik.
In another first-round encounter, Swede Thomas Johansson needed two hours and 40 minutes to defeat Colombian teenager Santiago Giraldo 7-6, 6-7, 6-4.
Top seed Andy Roddick, a two-times champion at Washington, plays his first match on Tuesday when he faces Tomas Zib of the Czech Republic in the second round.
Monday’s results:
First round: Alejandro Falla (Colombia) beat Robert Kendrick (US) 3-6, 6-2, 7-5; Robin Haase (Netherlands) beat Alex Bogdanovic (Britain) 6-4, 6-2; Evgeny Korolev (Russia) beat Ricardo Mello (Brazil) 6-4, 6-4; Paul Capdeville (Chile) beat Ilija Bozoljac (Serbia) 4-6, 6-3, 6-0; Igor Kunitsyn (Russia) beat Sebastien Grosjean (France) 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-3: Thomas Johansson (Sweden) beat Santiago Giraldo (Colombia) 7-6 (9-7), 6-7 (5-7), 6-4; Martin Klizan (Slovakia) beat Konstantinos Economidis (Greece) 6-4, 6-3; Jan Hernych (Czech Republic) beat Nathan Healey (Australia) 6-3, 1-1 – Healey retired.
SOPOT (Poland): Polish wild card Michael Przysiezny gave the home crowd something to cheer when he knocked out fourth-seeded Italian Filippo Volandri in the first round of the Polish Open on Monday.
Volandri, ranked 28th in the world and who beat world No.1 Roger Federer in Rome in May, crashed out to the 23-year-old Pole, ranked 207th, with Przysiezny winning 6-4, 2-6, 7-5.
Volandri was the second seed to exit on the opening day of the tournament following the defeat of sixth-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro earlier.
Argentine Mariano Zabaleta, 29, ranked 85th in the ATP rankings, was too good for the 21-year-old Spaniard, ranked 54 places above him, on the northern Polish clay court and won 6-3, 7-5.
Zabaleta, beaten in straight sets by Almagro in Acapulco earlier this year, forced Almagro into a series of errors to set up a second-round meeting with another Spaniard, Albert Montanes.
Montanes eased into the second round with a smooth 6-1, 6-3 victory over Argentine Diego Hartfield.
There was also an upset when Gaston Gaudio, the 2004 French Open champion, slumped to a 6-2, 6-0 defeat to Belgian Steve Darcis in the third qualifying round, with the 23-year-old European simply overwhelming the Argentine.
The tournament is the oldest in Poland and the country's only event on the ATP Tour with a total prize pool of $581,000.
Monday’s results:
First round: Michal Przysiezny (Poland) beat 4-Filippo Volandri (Italy) 6-4, 2-6, 7-5; Jose Acasuso (Argentina) beat Werner Eschauer (Austria) 6-2, 6-3; Albert Montanes (Spain) beat Diego Hartfield (Argentina) 6-1, 6-3; Mariano Zabaleta (Argentina) beat 6-Nicolas Almagro (Spain) 6-3, 7-5.—Reuters
