Seventh seed Vera Zvonareva progressed to the quarterfinals of the Kremlin Cup in her home Moscow with a dominant 6-1 6-0 victory over Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova. Also advancing was top seed Jelena Jankovic who beat Russian Vera Dushevina 6-7(6) 6-3 6-2.
Hantuchova scored only five points on Zvonareva’s serve! “I know that one can only have one or two such easy matches in a season,” said the Russian.
Jankovic appeared to struggle with a hip injury, and could have lost in straight sets as the world No.77 Dushevina came from behind in the first set, and broke early in the second. But Jankovic stepped up a gear and defeated nervous Dushevina for a place in the quarterfinals.
Also progressing on Thursday were Nadia Petrova and Flavia Pennetta. Petrova’s second-round opponent Caroline Wozniacki retired with breathing problems, while Italian Pennetta beat Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 3-6 6-4 6-4.
The quarterfinals are set: Jankovic vs. Pennetta, defending champion Dementieva vs. Petrova, Zvonareva vs. Cibulkova (the conqueror of Ana Ivanovic), and Kuznetsova vs. Safina.
