Kremlin Cup Tennis: Super Sela storms through in Moscow

Injury ends Pe'er's season; Okun claims a set off Safin but is knocked out.

By ALLON SINAI
dudi sela 224.88 (photo credit: AP)
dudi sela 224.88
(photo credit: AP)
Dudi Sela continued his sizzling form at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow on Tuesday, defeating Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 to advance to the second round of the $1 million tournament. The 23-year-old, who is ranked No. 70 in the world after playing in his first ever ATP tour final in Beijing 10 days ago, will next face the winner of Wednesday's first round encounter between Paul-Henri Mathieu (23) and Sergiy Stakhovsky. Since he led Israel to a Davis Cup World Group playoff victory over Peru two-and-a-half weeks ago, Sela has played the best tennis of his life, winning eight of his last 10 matches in impressive fashion. Harel Levy and Noam Okun, who were also part of Israel's Davis Cup triumph, both came through three rounds of qualifiers to reach the first round in Moscow, but failed to join Sela in the last 16 on Tuesday. Levy (194) lost 4-6, 3-6 to Julien Benneteau (52) in the first round, while Okun went down 6-7 (5), 6-3, 4-6 to former world No. 1 Marat Safin (40). This year's Kremlin Cup was the first ATP tour event in a decade at which three Israelis reached the main draw. The last time Israel had three representatives in an ATP tournament was in Uzbekistan in 1998 when Levy, Eyal Ran and Nir Welgreen all reached the main draw. Also Tuesday, Shahar Pe'er announced that she has played her last match of 2008, deciding to pull out of the indoor tournaments in Zurich and Luxembourg due to a foot injury. Pe'er has struggled this year, falling to No. 38 in the world after winning just 26 of her 50 matches in 2008. "As a result of an infection in the base of her foot that began in the Beijing Olympics, Shahar's doctor has instructed her to rest and get treatment on her foot for the next month," a statement posted on Pe'er's Web site read. "Therefore, she must give up her last two tournaments of the year (Zurich and Luxembourg) and finish the season. Shahar will rest and recover and after that will begin to prepare for the 2009 season." In other action in Moscow on Tuesday, defending champion Nikolay Davydenko beat Florent Serra of France 6-1, 7-5 in the first round. Sixth-ranked Davydenko, the top seed at the Kremlin Cup, had little trouble against 53rd-ranked Serra in the opening set but was made to work harder in the second, finally breaking the Frenchman in the 11th game. Davydenko is looking for his third straight and fourth title overall in Moscow. Earlier, Uzbek qualifier Denis Istomin upset sixth-seeded Michael Llodra of France 7-6 (2), 6-3 in only his second ATP Tour match. The 121st-ranked Istomin broke decisively in the sixth game of the second set and will face French veteran Fabrice Santoro in the second round. Eighth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia rallied to beat Russian qualifier Alexandre Kudryavtsev 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6). In the women's draw, 2004 US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Li Na of China 6-4, 7-5. The fifth-seeded Kuznetsova broke early in each set. She led 4-1 in the second set and had two match points serving at 5-3, but Li fought back to level at 5-5. However, the Russian broke next game and then served out the match on her fourth match point. "I had a very tough first-round match," Kuznetsova said. "Li Na beat many serious opponents this season and to win in two sets - I think, it's not a bad start to the tourment." Kuznetsova, ranked No. 7, has lost all seven WTA finals this season. The women's field at the Kremlin Cup contains seven of the world's top-10 players - including No. 1 Jelena Jankovic - but US Open champion Serena Williams, last year's runner-up in Moscow, pulled out because of an ankle injury. Sixth-seeded Venus Williams was scheduled to play Flavia Pennetta of Italy later Tuesday. In all-Russian matches, seventh-seeded Vera Zvonareva ousted Maria Kirilenko 6-4, 6-4 and Ekaterina Makarova beat Elena Vesnina 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1). AP contributed to this report.