Tennis: Shahar's streak finally snapped at 12 in China

Tennis Shahars streak

By ALLON SINAI
After 12 consecutive victories over the past three weeks, the longest winning streak of Shahar Pe'er's career came to an end in the first round of the China Open in Beijing on Sunday. The h22-year-old Israeli, who played two rounds of qualifiers to make it into the main draw of the $4,500,000 tournament, succumbed 6-4, 6-2 to Ekaterina Makarova (54) on Sunday, her first loss after winning back-to-back tournaments in Guangzhou and Tashkent, which saw her climb to number 34 in the world last week. Meanwhile, top seeded Dinara Safina ousted Italy's Roberta Vinci 6-4, 6-4 Sunday to put her China Open tennis campaign on track. The Russian world No. 1 never dropped serve to take the match in one hour, 24 minutes and advance to the second round. In other matches, Russian sixth-seed Svetlana Kuznetsova downed China's Zheng Jie 7-6 (3), 7-5, while compatriot Vera Zvonareva roared past Romania's Sorana Cirstea, 6-2, 6-2. Second-seeded American Serena Williams beat Estonia's Kaia Kanepi 7-5, 6-4, joining older sister Venus, who beat Russia's Vera Dushevina 6-2, 7-6 (1) Saturday. The Williams sisters are among the favorites, along with 2008 champion Jelena Jankovic. The China Open main draw starts Monday for the men, with world No. 2 Rafael Nadal the favorite in a field that also includes American Andy Roddick and Serbia's Novak Djokovic. AP contributed to this report