MARBELLA – France’s Aravane Rezai fell at the first hurdle at the WTA Andalucia Tennis Experience tournament on Tuesday, suffering a straight sets defeat in the first round to Spanish wildcard Estrella Cabeza. Third seed Rezai, ranked 24, went down 6-3, 6-0 against 258th-ranked Cabeza who had lost her only previous meeting with the French player in Palermo five years ago. Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova advanced to the second round but not without the second seed dropping a set to qualifier Mona Barthel at the 220,000-dollar event.
Former US and French Open champion Kuznetsova was led by a set and 4-1 by the German before digging deep to win through 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4. “For me it takes maybe two weeks to prepare for clay properly, and there just wasn’t time,” said Kuznetsova. “I was expecting to hit more winners and it wasn’t happening because this is clay. But I knew that if I kept fighting things might go my way, and I’m happy that I was able to do it.” Meanwhile, Rezai’s serve was broken five times as the Frenchwoman could only convert one of her nine break point chances.
Russia’s Dinara Safina avoided a similar fate as she advanced despite dropping her opening set before seeing off Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. Fifth seed Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria eased into the second round with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Spaniard Maria Teresa Torro with home hopes Lourdes Dominguez and Lara Arruabarrena also advancing to the next round. Hungary’s Agnes Szavay continued her return from injury with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Swede Johanna Larsson.
