Petrova Out, Kuznetsova Advances at WTA Moscow

Russians were winners in four of five matches played Wednesday at the ATP stop in Moscow, with the only upset caused by Italian Francesca Schiavone knocking out No. 8 seed Nadia Petrova after losing the first set 0-6.

"In the second set she began to play much tougher," Petrova said. "Running down the baseline for every ball."

Other winners on the day were Russians (4) Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. (Q) Pastikova), (6) Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva (d. Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem in three), Elena "Lena" Bovina (d. (LL) Schaul), and (WC) Dinara "Little Sis" Safina (d. (Q) Chakvetadze in three).

"It was rather difficult to play my first match on this surface, as it's very slow and I didn't have the right feeling of the ball at the beginning," Kuznetsova said. "I feel responsibility but not pressure when I'm playing in Russia. I would like to perform at my best here and win."

Safina will next face Lindsay Davenport, while Kuznetsova will potentially face Myskina in a battle of 2004 slam champions.

On court Thursday are (WC) Safina vs. (2) Davenport, Likhovtseva vs. (3) Myskina in an all-Russian, (WC) Douchevina vs. (7) Venus, and (Q) Mamic vs. (5) Dementieva.

Davenport will become No. 1 again on the WTA Rankings today with a win over Safina.