Shahar Pe'er easily beats Cibulkova in LA

The Israeli, who is seeded 10th in California, defeated the Slovakian 6-2, 6-3 and will face Virginie Razzano of France in the second round.

By ALLON SINAI
Shahar Peer 224.88 ap (photo credit: AP [file])
Shahar Peer 224.88 ap
(photo credit: AP [file])
Shahar Pe'er advanced to the second round of the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, successfully rebounding from her disappointing first round exit in San Diego last week. The Israeli, who is ranked No. 18 in the world and seeded 10th in California, defeated Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-3 and will face Virginie Razzano of France in the second round. Pe'er broke Cibulkova in the first game of the match and despite getting broken in the following game would quickly wrap-up the first set with a love hold in the eighth game. The Israeli stormed into a 5-0 lead in the second set, but the Slovakian broke her opponent and took the next two games to move within two games of the No. 10 seed. Pe'er, however, would break for a seventh time in the subsequent game to complete the first round win. Nikolay Davydenko will play in the Rogers Cup tennis tournament this week amid an investigation into irregular gambling patterns on one of his matches. The ATP said Monday it had no plans to suspend the Russian or ask him to sit out. "It is important that we not jump to conclusions, especially when players' reputations could be unfairly tainted," ATP executive chairman Etienne de Villiers said. "What we must do is carry out a comprehensive and immediate investigation and that is what we are doing." Davydenko is seeded fourth at the Rogers Cup and won't play until the second round on Wednesday. The ATP is looking into Davydenko's match against Martin Vassallo Arguello at the Prokom Open in Sopot last week. In an unprecedented move, British online gambling company Betfair voided all bets on the match when it drew about $7 million in wagers, about 10 times the usual amount for a similar match. Most of the money was on Arguello to win, even after Davydenko won the first set 6-2. Arguello won the second set 6-3 and was leading 2- 1 in the third when the Russian retired. The bookmaker has an agreement with the ATP to report any irregular betting. "We have instigated a full ATP investigation and we will be using all means available to us - including independent, external resources - via our anti-corruption rules to conduct a complete and thorough investigation," de Villiers said. AP contributed to this report