2009-10-04

China Open

Beijing, China (Sports Network) - Top seeds Dinara Safina and Serena Williams were straight-set winners Sunday in the first round of the China Open.

The top-seeded Safina notched a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Italy's Roberta Vinci, while the second-seeded Williams topped Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, 7-5, 6-4.

Other seeded winners Sunday included Russians Elena Dementieva, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva.

The fourth-seeded Dementieva advanced with a 6-4, 6-0 rout of Germany's Anna- Lena Groenefeld, while the sixth-seeded Kuznetsova disposed of China's Jie Zheng, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, and the seventh-seeded Zvonareva eased past Romania's Sorana Cirstea, 6-2, 6-2.

One minor upset saw Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez knock off fifth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-2), 6-0.

Ninth-seeded Victoria Azarenka also moved on with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over fellow Belarussian Olga Govortsova and 14th-seeded Marion Bartoli of France needed three sets to beat Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Unseeded winners Sunday included Russia's Ekaterina Makarova, who will face Williams in the second round, and China's Shuai Zhang, who will next take on Safina.

The first round will conclude Monday, while the second round will also begin.

Venus Williams is among those scheduled for second-round play on Monday. She is the third seed this week and will take on Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Well, let's see whats going on here:

Vera Zvonareva was rated an 8/10 on this post. Let's take a closer look at her:

She defeated Sorana Cirstea of Romania? She's never before graced this page. Here she is:


Victoria Azarenka suffers from cute face chubby waist syndrome, but here she is anyways in case that's your bag:

Olga Govortsova actually looks pretty ordinary on the tennis court. She dresses up nice though:


You don't want to look at Marion Bartoli photos, believe me. Magdalena Rybarikova similarly looks better fancied up off the court than on it:


Shuai Zhang suffers from asian tennis player syndrome, and Ekaterina Makarova is hardly the ideal player to end with as well. So here's Nicole Vaidisova instead, for no paticular reason: