Kournikova moves to second round

Associated Press, Shanghai, China

Anna Kournikova breezed past Mireille Dittmann of Australia on Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Shanghai Open.

The fourth-seeded Russian defeated Dittmann in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4.

Kournikova is also paired with Janet Lee of Taiwan in the second-seeded doubles team in the US$140,000 tournament at Shanghai's Xianxia Tennis Center.

Argentina's Clarisa Fernandez, the third-seeded singles player, advanced by beating Lee, 6-3, 6-4.

In Costa do Sauipe, Brazil, Guillermo Coria of Argentina easily defeated Brazil's Flavio Saretta 6-1, 6-0 in the opening round of the US$1.2 million Brazil Open hard-court tournament at the Sauipe Tourism Complex in northeastern Brazil.

Ramon Delgado of Paraguay downed Jerome Golmard of France 6-3, 6-2, Peru's Luis Horna defeated third-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain, 6-1, 6-3, and fifth-seeded Augustin Calleri of Argentina beat Brazil's Alexandre Simoni 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. American Brian Vahaly also advanced, beating Brazil's Ricardo Mello 6-1, 6-4.

In the women's tournament, Croatia's Iva Majoli easily downed Carla Tiene of Brazil 6-2, 6-1 and Cristina Torrens-Valero of Spain defeated beat Brazil's Maria Fernanda Alves also by 6-2, 6- 1.

Meanwhile, US Open runner-up Venus Williams withdrew from the tournament Sunday, saying she needed to rest after losing to sister Serena on Saturday in the Grand Slam final.

In Tashkent, Uzbekistan, eighth-seeded Davide Sanguinetti of Italy came back from a set down to beat wild card Magnus Norman of Sweden 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) Monday in the first round of the US$550,000 ATP President's Cup.

Ivan Lubicic of Croatia, the No. 6 seed, comfortably passed to the next round, defeating Martin Verkerk of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-1.

Nicolas Kiefer of Germany retired on a knee injury at 2-5 down in the opening set against Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark, letting the Dane advance to the next round.

In Bucharest, Romania, second-seeded Michel Kratochvil of Switzerland overcame France's Jean-Rene Lisnard 6-4, 7-6 (5) Monday in the first round of the US$381,000 Romanian Open.

Spain's Felix Mantilla, seeded third, defeated unseeded Juan Antonio Marin 7-5, 6-2 while the No. 4 seed, Fernando Vicente of Spain, upset unseeded Daniel Elsner of Germany 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.