Dushevina beats second seed Kirilenko at Korea Open tennis tournament

Russian Vera Dushevina beat her compatriot second-seeded Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 as four seeds fell in the first round of the Korea Open tennis tournament on Tuesday.

Exiting with Kirilenko were No. 6 Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden, No. 7 Gisela Dulko of Argentina, and No. 8 Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.

Dushevina, a quarterfinalist last year, broke her Russian Fed Cup teammate in the opening game en route to taking the first set. Kirilenko used drop shots and slices to upset Dueshevina's rhythm in the second set and serve for the match at 5-4 in the third. But Dushevina broke back and finished the three-hour match on an ace.

Arvidsson lost to Akiko Morigami of Japan 6-0, 6-4, Dulko fell to countrywoman Paola Suarez 6-1, 6-3, and Safarova was edged by Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain 7-5, 6-4.

Third-seeded Marion Bartoli of France downed Jill Craybas of the United States 6-4, 6-1. Bartoli, who reached her second final of the year in Bali two weeks ago, faces compatriot Severine Bremond for a place in the quarterfinals.

Also, No. 4 Ai Sugiyama of Japan rallied to beat Iona Raluca Olaru of Romania 1-6, 6-2, 6-4, and No. 5 Vera Zvonareva of Russia, a two-time winner on tour this season, routed Camille Pin of France 6-1, 6-2.

The 2004 Seoul runner-up Marta Domachowska of Poland lost to Anastassia Rodionova of Russia 6-4, 6-3, and wild card Angelique Widjaja of Indonesia beat Natalie Grandin of South Africa 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5).

Top-seeded Martina Hingis plays her opener against qualifier Carolina Wozniacki of Denmark on Wednesday.

Source: Xinhua