MOSCOW, Oct 8: Top seed Nikolay Davydenko began his bid for a third successive Kremlin Cup title with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Frenchman Florent Serra on Tuesday.

The Russian world No 5 cruised through the first set in 32 minutes but the 53rd-ranked Serra put up a better fight in the second, holding his serve to stay in the match.

Davydenko, hoping to secure a place in the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, finally broke Serra’s serve in the 11th game to set up a second-round encounter with Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Crowd favourite Marat Safin saw off Israeli qualifier Noam Okun in a tough battle 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 in the last match on centre court at Moscow’s Olympic sports complex.

Earlier, French pride suffered another beating when Uzbek qualifier Denis Istomin upset sixth seed Michael Llodra 7-6, 6-3.

The women’s sixth seed Venus Williams was also sent packing, beaten by Italy’s Flavia Pennetta 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. The Wimbledon champion had mostly herself to blame for the defeat, committing 38 unforced errors and seven double faults in a two-hour match.

Fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, however, again avenged her Olympic defeat by Li Na by beating the Chinese 6-4, 7-5. Li shocked the Russian in the first round of the Beijing Games in August, though Kuznetsova beat her in the Pan Pacific Open the following month.

Next up for the former US Open champion is Italian qualifier Sara Errani, who knocked out world No 17 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Asked if she would like to follow the lead of compatriot Dinara Safina and cook an Italian dish with Errani, Kuznetsova snapped back: “Cook a dish with Errani? No way, I’d rather make a nice dish out of her on the court.”

Second-seeded Safina, who had a bye into the second round along with the other top seeds, Jelena Jankovic, Elena Dementieva and Ana Ivanovic, joined forces with her opponent Amelie Mauresmo to cook a French meal for charity on Monday.

The women’s field is the strongest in the Kremlin Cup’s 19-year history, with only world No 2 Serena Williams and No 6 Maria Sharapova among the leading players absent because of injury.

Tuesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

First round: 7-Marat Safin (Russia) bt Noam Okun (Israel) 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-4; Robby Ginepri (US) bt Jiri Vanek (Czech Republic) 6-3, 6-4; 1-Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) bt Florent Serra (France) 6-1, 7-5; Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan) bt 6-Michael Llodra (France) 7-6 (7-2), 6-3; 8-Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) bt Alexandre Kudryavtsev (Russia) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6); Dudi Sela (Israel) bt Victor Hanescu (Romania) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2; Julien Benneteau (France) bt Harel Levy (Israel) 6-4, 6-3; Viktor Troicki (Serbia) bt Evgeny Donskoy (Russia) 6-1, 6-3.

Women’s singles:

First round: Flavia Pennetta (Italy) bt 6-Venus Williams (US) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4; Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) bt Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 6-3, 6-2; 5-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) bt Li Na (China) 6-4, 7-5; Sara Errani (Italy) bt Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) 1-6, 6-4, 6-3; Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) bt Elena Vesnina (Russia) 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-1); 7-Vera Zvonareva (Russia) bt Maria Kirilenko (Russia) 6-4, 6-4; Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) bt Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) 6-2, 6-1.

TOP SEED OUSTED

VIENNA: German qualifier Philipp Petzschner upset Swiss top seed and world No 10 Stanislas Wawrinka 6-7, 6-2, 7-6 in the Vienna Open first round on Tuesday.

Following a shaky start in which Wawrinka twice fought back from a break down, the Swiss steadied his nerves after clinching the opening set tiebreak and taking a 2-0 second set lead.

But Petzschner, 23, responded impressively by turning the second set around with three breaks of Wawrinka’s serve.

The German world No 125 failed to serve out at 5-3 up in the deciding set but held on to take the tiebreak 7-5.

“I have been top seed at a tournament before so it was not a matter of feeling any pressure,” said Wawrinka following a defeat that could seriously dent his chances of qualifying for the lucrative season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai.

“Of course, it’s not good for Shanghai but I still have three tournaments left before then, two of them Masters tournaments.”

Petzschner, celebrating his first win over a top 10 player, later told reporters he only decided to enter the singles at the last minute, having previously planned to play just the doubles with Austrian training partner Alex Peya.

The German now faces fellow qualifier Czech Jan Hernych.

French seventh seed Gilles Simon also suffered a 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 first round exit to Argentine Eduardo Schwank to leave the top half of the draw without a seeded player after Ivo Karlovic’s defeat on Monday and Tommy Robredo’s withdrawal through injury.Second seeded Masters Cup contender Fernando Gonzalez could benefit from Wawrinka’s misfortune after the Chilean world No 12 saw off Italy’s Simone Bolelli 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 to set up a second round meeting with Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis.

Results:

First round: Juergen Melzer (Austria) bt Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) 7-6 (7-3), 6-3; Eduardo Schwank (Argentina) bt 7-Gilles Simon (France) 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5); Santiago Giraldo (Colombia) bt Stefan Koubek (Austria) 6-1, 6-2; 2-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) bt Simone Bolelli (Italy) 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2; Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) bt Filippo Volandri (Italy) 6-2, 6-3; Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) bt Pavel Snobel (Czech Republic) 6-4, 6-2; Philipp Petzschner (Germany) bt 1-Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 7-6 (7-5); Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) bt Marc Gicquel (France) 6-2, 6-2.—Reuters