Americans Wayne Odesnik, Robby Ginepri spring 1st-round upsets at Kremlin Cup in Moscow

Odesnik, Ginepri win in upsets at Kremlin Cup

MOSCOW — Americans Wayne Odesnik and Robby Ginepri sprung upsets at the Kremlin Cup on Tuesday, eliminating two highly seeded players in the opening round.

Odesnik rallied past second-seeded Victor Hanescu of Romania 5-7, 7-5, 6-4, and Ginepri defeated fourth-seeded Igor Andreev of Russia 6-3, 6-7 (9), 7-6 (1).

On the women’s side, top-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia ousted Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania 6-2, 6-2, and defending champion Jelena Jankovic of Serbia stopped Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-4, 5-7, 6-1.

“It’s my first tournament indoors and on a different surface,” said Zvonareva, the runner-up last year. “Olaru is young but a very tough opponent, and I think, my experience helped me to win today.”

The 98th-ranked Odesnik saved a match point in the 10th game of the second set. He then broke Hanescu in the fifth game of the third set.

“I was mentally strong today and stayed with him the whole match,” Odesnik said.

Hanescu, who is ranked 27th and lost to Robin Soderling in the first round of the Shanghai Masters last week, had problems with the indoor hard court at Olympic Stadium.

“The surface is slower than last week and I struggled adjusting to it,” Hanescu said. “I don’t have so much confidence at the moment.”

Jankovic, seeded second, won five consecutive games in the third set. Shvedova eliminated Jankovic in the second round of the U.S. Open in September.

“I went out there knowing what she does — she serves well and she hits some balls well,” Jankovic said. “It took me some time to get into the match and get used to the balls and the court. And I’m just happy I was able to win the match.”

In the second round, Jankovic will face Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic, and Zvonareva will play qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.

Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic, seeded sixth, defeated Austria’s Daniel Koellerer 6-4, 6-3. France’s Fabrice Santoro, seeded seventh, rallied past beat Wimbledon junior champion Andrey Kuznetsov 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

The 20th edition of the dual ATP and WTA Kremlin Cup has a weakened women’s draw. Seven of the world’s top players qualified for next week’s season-ending WTA Championships in Doha and skipped the Moscow tournament.

Jankovic, Zvonareva and Agnieszka Radwanska lead the women’s draw and will compete for the remaining spot in Doha. Nikolay Davydenko, fresh from winning in Shanghai, tops the men’s draw and faces Marat Safin in the first round Wednesday.