Defending champion Jelena Jankovic had little trouble disposing of world No. 17 Dominika Cibulkova 6-1, 6-1 for a place in the second round of the Stuttgart Grand Prix on Wednesday.
Third seed Jankovic raced through the first set in 29 minutes and showed her improving form again in the second set, demolishing the Slovakian with fine baseline play to win in just over an hour.
Meanwhile, Argentine Gisela Dulko stunned world No. 8 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-4, 6-3 to move into quarter-finals.
PHOTO: EPA
Dulko, ranked 34th in the world, grabbed a quick break early in the first set and went 3-1 ahead before Azarenka broke back to level.
The Argentine took the pace off Azarenka’s powerful groundstrokes by adding spin to every ball, lifting it high and sending it deep, to grab the first set from the fourth seed.
Azarenka, 19, who stormed into the top 10 with her first Tier I tournament win in Miami earlier this month, broke early in the second set but failed to hold serve twice before Dulko wrapped up the match after an hour and 21 minutes.
Germany’s Sabine Lisicki, ranked 42nd, swept into the second round with a convincing 6-4, 6-3 win over Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder, the world No. 20.
Lisicki, 19, never looked threatened by her more experienced opponent, confirming the good form that took her to a first WTA tour title in Charleston on April 19.
Fellow German Andrea Petkovic, ranked 143rd, battled bravely for two sets in her first-round match against Svetlana Kuznetsova but collapsed in the third to lose 6-4, 5-7, 6-1.
Russian Nadia Petrova, seeded sixth, also advanced to the second round beating China’s Zheng Jie 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
■ROME MASTERS
REUTERS, ROME
Andy Murray’s Rome Masters campaign floundered at the first hurdle when he lost 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 to Argentine qualifier Juan Monaco on Wednesday, but Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer enjoyed comfortable wins.
Nadal, who like Murray and the other top seeds had a bye into round two, beat Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-2 6-3, while Federer progressed with a 6-4 6-4 win over Ivo Karlovic.
Fourth seed Murray looked in total control as he fired some cracking winners from deep when running away with the opening set.
But Monaco, who put up a good fight against the Scot in Miami last month, took advantage of some sloppy shots to roar back.
Murray twice broke back in the second set but he could not recover after losing his serve again in its eighth game.
It was almost an identical story in the deciding set, with Murray slicing the ball into the net to concede the match and allow the Argentine to set up a third-round clash with 15th seed Marin Cilic.
The Rome crowd briefly had hope of seeing their man spring another surprise when Seppi took Nadal’s serve in the first game.
But the Spaniard hit back with three breaks of his own in the first set and another in the second to earn the win.
Federer clinched the first set of his match with a sweet backhand volley at the net, after stealing Karlovic’s big serve in the third game.
Another break at the start of the second set was enough to seal victory for the Swiss.
Murray was not the only top 10 seed to fall on Wednesday. Nikolay Davydenko (seventh) lost 7-5 7-6 to Austria’s Juergen Melzer and France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (ninth) went down 7-6 6-4 to compatriot Richard Gasquet.
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