TENNIS in DEPTH.

Ana Ivanovic advanced to the second round of the Qatar Open on Monday when Carla Suarez Navarro withdrew midway through their match because of a back injury. Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open champion, was leading 6-1, 4-1. Trailing 1-2 in the second set, Suarez Navarro had already sought courtside treatment from the WTA Tour medical team. The Spaniard then briefly left the court before resuming the set. “It is very unfortunate for her,” Ivanovic said. “It is never enjoyable to win a match like that, but I hope she recovers fast. I am happy with the way I played in the match.”

Two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia joined Ivanovic in the second round after a 7-5, 6-3 win over Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain. After a slow start, the former French and U.S. Open champion breezed through the second set to set up a match against Jie Zheng of China or Maria Kirilenko of Russia. “It was definitely a tough win for me,” Kuznetsova said. Ksenia Pervak of Kazakhstan rallied from a set down to beat 10th-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 1-6, 6-2, 6-3. It was the 20-year-old Pervak’s fourth win of the season. China’s Shuai Peng, seeded 14th, defeated qualifier Fatma Al Nabhani of Oman 6-0, 7-5. Israel’s Shahar Peer blanked Moroccan wild card Nadia Lalami 6-0, 6-0.

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Petra Kvitova advanced to the Australian Open last 16 after Maria Kirilenko retired injured from their match at 6-0 1-0 down. Russian world number 29 Kirilenko had her thigh strapped before conceding defeat with 38 minutes on the clock. Fourth seed Maria Sharapova had to work harder for her place in the fourth round than the 6-1 6-2 scoreline from her win over Angelique Kerber suggests. Seventh seed Vera Zvonareva lost to fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova. Kvitova, who could unseat Caroline Wozniacki as world number one by the end of the tournament will take on Ana Ivanovic, who held top spot in the rankings for 12 weeks in 2008, in the next round.

“I’m a little disappointed. I played the first set very well but it was unfortunate it was like this,” said Kvitova of her win over Kirilenko. The Czech second seed had been taken to three sets in the previous round by Carla Suarez Navarro, but her powerful groundstrokes looked too much for Kirilenko even before her opponent called for medical attention at 5-0 adrift in the opening set.

Sharapova had dropped just two games in swift wins over Gisela Dulko and Jamie Hampton in her first two matches and looked set to progress in similar style as she broke early in the second set against Kerber. But the 2008 champion was pegged back as Kerber wrestled the third and fourth games of the set her way. Sharapova responded with steely determination though, edging back in front at 4-2 before securing her passage to the next stage with another break. There will be more German opposition for her in the last 16 where she will meet 14th seed Sabine Lisicki in a repeat of the pair’s 2011 Wimbledon meeting. Lisicki overcame 18th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6 6-4 6-2 in a see-sawing match that lasted a shade under two hours. Zvonareva was out-fought 7-6 (9-7) 6-1 by Makarova as she became the highest-seeded player to exit the event since Sam Stosur’s first-round exit. The 24-year-old, who lost to eventual winner Kim Clijsters in the semi-finals last year, has had a slow start to 2012, losing in the first round of the Sydney International.

Ninth seed Marion Bartoli also fell victim to an upset as Chinese world number 38 Zheng Jie won their match 6-3 6-3. Zheng will play Italy’s Sara Errani who followed up her victory over 29th seed Nadia Petrova last time out with a 6-7 (6-8) 6-0 6-2 win over Romania’s Sorana Cirstea to make a Grand Slam fourth round for the first time. Ivanovic saw off American Vania King 6-3 6-4 to book her place in the same stage.

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Maria Sharapova was at her ruthless best as she lost just one game en route to the Australian Open second round. The No.4 seed, who won the title at Melbourne Park in 2008, needed less than an hour to account for Argentina’s Gisela Dulko 6-0 6-1 in stifling conditions on the Hisense Arena. Despite fears over her fitness coming into the tournament following the ankle injury that forced her out of the Brisbane International, Sharapova quickly got into her stride. The Russian wrapped up the first set in just 25 minutes and had rattled off eight games on the bounce before Dulko finally got onto the scoreboard. However despite losing her serve, Sharapova broke back immediately before seeing out the match.

“I knew I had a tough opponent today,” said Sharapova, who registered 14 winners. ”I focused on every point and took her time away – she’s a player who loves time on the ball.”

Russian stars Vera Zvonareva and Svetlana Kuznetsova were both pushed hard in the opening round of the Australian Open on Tuesday. Both players required three sets to progress in hot conditions in Melbourne, hardly the ideal start to the campaign. Seventh seed Zvonareva took three hours and 15 minutes to see off battling Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru. The former Wimbledon and US Open finalist eventually prevailed 7-6 (7/4) 6-7 (5/7) 6-3. Kuznetsova, who has vowed to be aggressive as she looks to add the Australian crown to previous success at the French and US Opens, was not on court as long, but was still taken to a third set by Chanelle Scheepers. The 18th seed looked in a spot of bother when she lost the second set but she refocused and pulled away in the decider to win 6-3 3-6 6-0. Kuznetsova cracked 39 winners to her opponent’s 15. The two Russians will meet in the last eight if both continue to progress through the draw.

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Next up for Serena Williams will be No.16 seed Ana Ivanovic, who beat American wildcard Sloane Stephens at night, 63 64. “I think it’s exciting, at least for me,” Ivanovic said of the looming match-up. “It’s a tough draw to play her fourth round, I could have had somebody else – but I know I can give her a tough match. She beat me in the past, but maybe I can go for revenge on Monday.” Williams leads Ivanovic in their head-to-head series, 2-0.

Also setting up a fourth round clash were No.1 seed Caroline Wozniacki and No.15 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. Wozniacki outclassed Vania King, 62 64; Kuznetsova beat Akgul Amanmuradova later on in the day, 64 62. ”Svetlana’s a tough competitor. She can play very aggressive, her serve is big, her forehand too,” Wozniacki said of the Russian. “I will definitely need to play my best. We’ve had quite a few good matches in the past. I think two years ago I played her here in the fourth round, night session, where I was down but came back. I just remember there was a fantastic atmosphere out there.” Wozniacki leads Kuznetsova in their head-to-head series, 4-2.

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Marion Bartoli was an early casualty at the Rogers Cup on Monday, the ninth seed losing 6-3 6-3 in her first-round match against Kazakh qualifier Galina Voskoboeva. The world number 135 needed 75 minutes to pull off one of the best wins of her career against the Wimbledon semi-finalist. Voskoboeva hit three aces and saved two out of three break points.

Immediately following the Bartoli match, Russia’s Kuznetsova took to the courts and went down to qualifier Simona Halep of Romania 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Samantha Stosur also suffered a fright before progressing against Japan’s Ayumi Morita in Toronto. The Australian 10th seed lost the first set before rallying to pull off a 4-6 6-2 6-3 win in just under two hours. Nadia Petrova eased past Jarmila Gajdosova 6-1 6-2 while other early winners included qualifier Greta Arn, who beat Klara Zakopalova, Lucie Safarova and Jie Zheng.

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Zvonareva set the tone with a 60 62 demolition of Errani in the opening match of the tie. Kuznetsova was then made to battle by a determined Roberta Vinci before prevailing 62 67(4) 61 in the second singles rubber. Saturday’s wins for Russia mean that Zvonareva could seal victory for the team against Vinci in Sunday’s first reverse singles match, though there was no hint of complacency in the Russian camp. For his part, Italian captain Corrado Barazzutti sounded an optimistic, if philosophical, note as he looked ahead to what is likely to be another challenging day for his team. “We have to acknowledge that the Russians played very well today. They have great players,” he said. “Tomorrow is another day and if the Russians win, then we have to congratulate them but we will have to see what’s up tomorrow because anything can happen.” After Zvonareva’s one-sided win, Kuznetsova and Vinci produced a battle that owed plenty to the Italian’s swashbuckling tennis style, which was most evident in the second set. At one stage, Vinci led 4-1 and had a ball for 5-1 before being pushed to a tiebreak. It was a sequence of events which was to rob her of much-needed energy for the third set.

Andrea Petkovic and Julia Goerges both scored straight sets victories to put Germany in charge against USA in their Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group play-off tie in Stuttgart. Petkovic gave Germany a great start to their promotion campaign with a 63 64 win over 18-year-old Christina McHale. The German No. 1 broke serve on four occasions, and only conceded her own delivery twice, to seal victory in 1 hour 35 minutes. Goerges then avenged a recent defeat by Melanie Oudin in Miami by coming back from a break down in the second set to win 62 76(5).

The Americans are missing their top three players through injury – Serena and Venus Williams, and Bethanie Mattek-Sands – leaving added pressure on the young shoulders of McHale and Oudin.

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Third seed Aravane Rezai was the day’s biggest casualty as she crashed 6-3 6-0 to Spanish wild card Estrella Cabeza Candela, who at 258 is ranked more than 200 places below Rezai in the world rankings.

Former world number one Dinara Safina was made to work for her place in the second round of the Andalucia Tennis Experience tournament in Marbella. Safina fought back from losing the first set to triumph 3-6 6-2 6-4 and continue her recent improvement. Safina, now world number 81, recently made the last 16 in Indian Wells.

Second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova beat German qualifier Mona Barthel 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 and other winners included Tsvetana Pironkova, Kristina Barrois, Agnes Szavay and Lourdes Dominguez Lino.

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Daniela Hantuchova proved her recent title win in Pattaya was no fluke as she fought back from a break down in the final set to knock sixth seed Victoria Azarenka out of the Qatar Ladies Open in Doha. Hantuchova, whose triumph in Thailand was her first in more than four years, showed plenty of spirit as she battled back from dropping the first set to win the first round clash 4-6 6-1 6-2.

Azarenka was the only seed to fall on day two although Dubai finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova suffered a surprisingly one-sided 6-2 6-4, 80-minute defeat to Israel’s eighth seed Shahar Peer. Fifth seed Jelena Jankovic beat wild card Falma Al Nabhani of Oman 6-1 6-3, Dominika Cibulkova edged past Jarmila Groth in a marathon final set tie-break, and Vera Dushevina and Flavia Pennetta were also winners.

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