Jankovic slumps to opening round defeat in Moscow

Serbia's fifth seed Jelena Jankovic suffered an early exit from the joint WTA/ATP Kremlin Cup tournament here on Tuesday as she lost 4-6, 6-1, 4-6 at the hands of unheralded Russian qualifier Ekaterina Ivanova. Jankovic, the 2008 champion here, was the highest profile casualty as Russian sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova had no such problems, the two-time Grand Slam winner dismissing French journeywoman Alize Cornet 6-3, 6-3. Kuznetsova, who is seeking her first title of a thusfar fallow season and 14th title in all, was only beating Cornet for the first time after losing their previous two meetings. "The situation in today's clash and in our previous meeting with Alize (Cornet) in this season's Fed Cup opening round match, which she won, were very much alike," Kuznetsova said. "I was trailing 2-0 again in the second after winning the first set. But this time I managed to come back into the match and win. "It's the end of the season but I'm not tired at all as I was playing not so much this season. I feel myself strong enough and I'd like to go as far as possible here." Kuznetsova, currently 19th in the world, started confidently breaking the French qualifier twice early on for a 4-1 advantage. The 21-year-old Frenchwoman reduced the arrears breaking back in the sixth game but Kuznetsova broke again in the ninth to clinch a one-set lead after 35 minutes on court.Cornet started the second with a break for a 2-0 lead but the 26-year-old Russian stepped up a gear to take five consecutive games to win the set and the match to face Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova in a match for a place in the last eight. In the men's section Moscow-born Alex Bogomolov Jr of the United States, who is seeded fifth here, battled into the second round through a tough three-setter with Serbia's Dusan Lajovic winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to face his doubles' companion Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan. Meanwhile, Russia's sixth seed Dmitry Tursunov saw off Spaniard Albert Ramos 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 while Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, who is seeded seventh here, also advanced into the second round past Russian qualifier Konstantin Kravchuk, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.