Story highlights
Agnieszka Radwanska crashes out of Kremlin Cup to Lucie Safarova
Pole Radwanksa misses chance to seal spot in WTA Championsips
Marion Bartoli can claim final place if she wins Kremlin Cup
Defending men's champion Viktor Troicki eases to opening victory over Pere Riba
Agnieszka Radwanska faces a nervous wait to see if she will make the WTA Tour Championships after losing to Czech Lucie Safarova in the second round of the Kremlin Cup Wednesday.
Victory for the pole would have seen her qualify as the eighth and final player, but Safarova battled to a 6-4 4-6 6-4 win in Moscow.
France’s Marion Bartoli, seeded fourth at the tournament, can now pip Radwanska if she takes the title Sunday.
The 22-year-old Radwanska came into the event off the back of claiming titles in Japan and China, but continued her poor run against Safarova, who is now 4-1 in their clashes.
Safarova will now play Russia’s Vera Dushevina, who beat compatriot Nadia Petrova 6-2 7-6.
Earlier, top seed and home favorite Vera Zvonareva cruised into the quarterfinals with a 6-1 6-1 win over Serbian teenager Bojana Jovanovski in just 64 minutes.
“I took into consideration all of the mistakes I made in my previous meeting with Jovanovski at this year’s Australian Open,” Zvonareva said.
Zvonareva had taken three sets to win their clash at the opening grand slam of the season.
But Italian Francesca Schiavone, the 2009 champion, went out, losing 6-4 5-7 7-6 to Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi.
In the men’s ATP tournament being run at the same time, defending champion and second seed Viktor Troicki of Serbia cruised through his opening match with a 6-4 6-4 win over Spain’s Pere Riba.
Russia’s fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko, a three-time champion, saw off compatriot Teimuraz Gabashvili 7-5 6-2 and will next face Germany’s Michael Berrer, who shocked Italy’s eighth seed Andreas Seppi 4-6 6-3 6-2.
