Svetlana Kuznetsova beaten by fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko at Italian Open

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Kuznetsova loses opener at Italian Open

ROME — Svetlana Kuznetsova extended her run of poor results with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 loss to fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko in the second round of the Italian Open on Monday.

The fifth-ranked Kuznetsova, a two-time runner-up at the Foro Italico, has not put together three consecutive wins since reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open in January.

“I haven’t had many matches this year and so I found it hard,” Kuznetsova said. “I still have to find myself out there.”

The 37th-ranked Kirilenko improved to 3-0 in her career against Kuznetsova.

“I felt so bad in the first set and then I started to get a little better in the second and third set,” Kuznetsova said. “If I had played the first set like the second and third, then probably it would have been a very different picture.”

Kuznetsova claimed the second Grand Slam title of her career when she won last year’s French Open. The Rome tournament is an important clay-court warmup for Roland Garros, which begins in three weeks.

Kirilenko broke serve to end the match when Kuznetsova hit a backhand into the net.

In first-round action, No. 11 Yanina Wickmayer overcame a mid-match lapse to beat Karolina Sprem of Croatia 6-3, 1-6, 6-4; No. 12 Flavia Pennetta of Italy — the top local hope — advanced past Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan 6-2, 6-3; No. 13 Francesca Schiavone of Italy rallied to eliminate Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova 3-6, 6-2, 6-2; and No. 16 Shahar Peer of Israel easily defeated Italian wild card Corinna Dentoni 6-2, 6-1.

Nine of the top 10 ranked players are in action at the tournament — No. 8 Samantha Stosur withdrew following her loss to Justine Henin in the final of the Porsche Grand Prix on Sunday.

The top eight seeds have first-round byes.

Henin and fellow Belgian player Kim Clijsters did not enter.

Another former French Open winner, Ana Ivanovic, rolled to a 6-1, 6-3 win over Elena Vesnina.

Ivanovic’s ranking has slipped from No. 1 to No. 58 and she recently hired Steffi Graf’s old coach, Heinz Gunthardt.

“We made a plan when we started working together a couple months ago and it’s working really well,” Ivanovic said, adding that she expects to return to the top 10. “It’s going to take some time but I really believe I’m going to be back.”

Ivanovic will next face ninth-seeded Victoria Azarenka, who beat her in the fourth round of last year’s French Open.

“I really hope I can take this victory as confidence for tomorrow,” Ivanovic said.

Earlier, Bethanie Mattek-Sands beat United States Fed Cup teammate Melanie Oudin 6-1, 6-3.

Mattek-Sands won key singles and doubles matches back-to-back to lead the Americans to a 3-2 win over Russia in the Fed Cup semifinals eight days ago and she maintained that form against Oudin.

The 31st-ranked Oudin struggled with her serve, holding only three times and winning just 46 percent of the points with her first serve to Mattek-Sands’ 81 percent.

The 128th-ranked Mattek-Sands improved to 3-0 in her career against the 18-year-old Oudin, who reached the U.S. Open quarterfinals in September.