Jelena Jankovic advances to 2nd round, Victor Hanescu upset at Kremlin Cup

Jankovic advances, Hanescu upset at Kremlin Cup

MOSCOW — Defending champion Jelena Jankovic advanced to the second round of the Kremlin Cup on Tuesday by defeating Yaroslava Shvedova 6-4, 5-7, 6-1.

Wayne Odesnik of the United States rallied to upset second-seeded Victor Hanescu of Romania 5-7, 7-5, 6-4.

Jankovic won the first set after Shvedova hit into the net twice to give her the 10th game. Shvedova, who eliminated Jankovic in the second round of the U.S. Open in September, had an early break in the second before the Serb evened it at 4-4. Shvedova broke again for a 6-5 lead before serving for the set.

Jankovic dominated the third, winning five consecutive games to secure the win. In the second round, Jankovic will face Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.

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

“There were a lot of changes in the match,” Odesnik said. “I was up a break twice in the first set but I kept fighting even if I lost it. I was mentally strong today and stayed with him the whole match.”

The 27th-ranked Hanescu, who lost to Robin Soderling in the first round of the Shanghai Masters last week, said he had problems with the court.

“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. I lost first round to top players in the last couple of weeks.”

French veteran Fabrice Santoro, seeded seventh, rallied to beat Wimbledon junior champion Andrey Kuznetsov 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

The 20th edition of the combined ATP and WTA Kremlin Cup has a weakened women’s draw. Seven of the top 10 players have already qualified for next week’s season-ending WTA Championships in Doha and opted to skip the Moscow tournament.

Second-seeded Jankovic, top-seeded Vera Zvonareva and Agnieszka Radwanska lead the draw and will compete for the remaining spot in Doha.

Seventh-ranked Nikolay Davydenko, coming off a win at the Shanghai Masters on Sunday, tops the men’s draw. He will play Marat Safin in the first round on Wednesday.