Santangelo has just taken Kirilenko out, 7-5 in the 3rd set. She only won 1 more point in total!

Other results:

(10) Anastasia Myskina (RUS) d. (Q) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) 63 36 76(6)
Anna Smashnova (ISR) d. (LL) Maret Ani (EST) 46 60 64
Lucie Safarova (CZE) d. Kveta Peschke (CZE) 76(1) 64
Martina Hingis (SUI) d. (Q) Sara Errani (ITA) 60 61
(12) Nicole Vaidisova (CZE) d. Emma Laine (FIN) 57 61 63
Catalina Castaño (COL) d. Gisela Dulko (ARG) 63 76(0)
(LL) María Sánchez Lorenzo (ESP) d. (WC) Tathiana Garbin (ITA) 64 64
Vera Dushevina (RUS) d. Klara Koukalova (CZE) 62 61

Hi lDF! :D

Much needed win for vaidisova on clay, against quite an obscure tricky Swiss opponent. So well done to her, she needs some confidence going into RG. Also i take it if Venus wins tonight, she'll play fast improving Czech Safarova, who's a pretty dangerous prospect on clay with those thunderous groundstrokes on both flanks.

Hingis cruised past as i expected her to do, her draw looks like a cakewalk quite frankly this week, due to mauresmo's withdrawal.

Finally Myskina dug deep to beat azarenka, which shows at least a lot of heart, if albeit dodgy and ungainly play. It will intresting to see how much further Myskina goes in this tourny or whether she'll just crash and burn in round 2. You never know with Ana! :wacko:

Also on court 1, Jankovic isnt doing that bad, 5-3 up with a break......a change in fortunes for the Serb? I bloody hope so after her complete meltdown this year.

Hey dl :D

I wouldn't be too worried about Safarova. I mean, if Kveta Peschke can push her (who is generally very erratic), then I'm sure a decent Venus would beat her. If Venus beats Petrova (assuming they both get there), I'd back her to reach the final, particularly with Mauresmo's withdrawl...

Likhovtseva has a game point coming up...

And she holds, it's still 5-4 to Jelena though.

Hey guys :D

What a great opening day to the tournament, Hingis, Myskina and later Venus, so far all the big names are through...

Jankovic takes the first set 6-4!

Now don't collapse like last week...

Its like the battle of the no confidence players out there LDF. There's just no real inspiration from either side of the net and both are just so desperate to find form.

I know, it's not particularly nice to watch... :huh:

Congrats Jelena1 you got a win after 4 months

WB, did you see Maria's match earlier?

Well Venus has just won 6-3 6-2, but she'll need to improve, she was broken 3 times and a lot of the games went to deuce, but she's safely through :)

I know! :D

Nice little warm-up for venus, won the key points and thats all that matters in the early rounds. Plays Safarova i'm guessing on wednesday, so looking forward to it.

I think she'll improve, back on the practice courts tomorrow to just sharpen that technique and gameplan.

Just great to see Venus playing! :D

Venus really cleaned up her game in the second set, but that serve still needs to improve...

But I'm glad she's through - some wonderful winners :D

I reckon myself that she wasn't as sharp as usual because she was trying to shake off all the rust by trying all sorts, going for her shots, she knew that it wasn't hugely important for her to play a disciplined match...

Its pretty intimidating for her opponents when venus is standing in about 3 feet into the court on first and second serves. Her return was generally very impressive, some excellent strikes down the line which were either clean winners or set up a devastating drive volley. I really think this could be a start of something here in Rome for venus, i really do....

Yeah i think she was just easing back into the groove. kind of reminds me of her first round win against birneova at Wimbledon last year, sloppy but ultimately decisive.

Yeah, at this early stage you just want the win under your belt as quick as possible, that was very routine for Venus, so far so good in her comeback :)

Day 2 order of play

Centrale (from 13.00hrs)
1. K.Bondarenko vs. Pennetta
2. Santangelo vs. Schiavone
3. V.Williams vs. Safarova
4. Vaidisova vs. Hingis (NB 20.30hrs)
5. ATP: McEnroe vs. Pioline

Pietrangeli (from 13.00hrs)
1. Razzano vs. Groenefeld
2. Safina vs. Pous Tio
3. Hantuchova vs. Stosur
4. Kuznetsova vs. Smashnova

Court 2 (from 13.00hrs)
1. Domínguez Lino vs. Peng
2. Chakvetadze vs. Morigami

Court 3 (from 13.00hrs)
1. Craybas vs. Medina Garrigues
2. Pratt/Stewart vs. Errani/Gabba
3. G.Navratilova/Uhlirova vs. Jankovic/Razzano
4. Azarenka/K.Bondarenko vs. Beygelzimer/Vanc

Court 4 (from 16.00hrs)
1. ATP: Cash vs. Furlan
2. ATP: Leconte vs. Mezzadri

Court 5 (from 13.00hrs)
1. Zvonareva vs. Peer
2. Nakamura vs. Domachowska
3. Dementieva/Pennetta vs. Husarova/Peer
4. Likhovtseva/Myskina vs. Dechy/Groenefeld

Court 6 (from 13.00hrs)
1. Brandi vs. Oprandi
2. Srebotnik vs. Molik
3. Arvidsson vs. Vinci
4. Domínguez Lino/Sánchez Lorenzo vs. Camerin/Garbin

Another decent day in Rome with many of the top players in action. Lots of interesting match ups as well.

Match of the day is probably a tie between

Venus v Safarova & Hingis v Vaidisova
I'd expect Hingis & Venus to get through but both could be tested by the up & coming youngsters.

Potential Upsets.

Razzano v Groenefeld - Groenefeld had a bad week last week & Razzano likes clay so there could be an upset in the offing
Hantuchova v Stosur - Hantuchova has looked poor recently & Stosur proved suprisingly good on clay last week when she made the Prague final.
Kuznetsova v Smashnova - Unlikely but Smashnova does like clay.

Other matches of interest.
Zvonerava v Peer - Vera showed some form last week against Petrova in the 2nd set but Peer won Prague last week so is playing well.
Srebotnik v Molik - Great to see Alicia back but I can't see her winning this.

It's worth remembering that these courts were playing very fast last week when the men were playing which could mean we'll see some unusual results. Would suggest that Clijsters & Venus could do well here.

Results:

Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. (13) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) 62 16 63
Roberta Vinci (ITA) d. Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) 62 61
Aiko Nakamura (JPN) d. Marta Domachowska (POL) 76(5) 63
Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) d. Alicia Molik (AUS) 62 60
(Q) Akiko Morigami (JPN) d. Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) 46 62 42 ret. (right thigh strain)
(16) Dinara Safina (RUS) d. (Q) Laura Pous Tio (ESP) 64 62
(Q) Romina Oprandi (ITA) d. (Q) Kristina Brandi (PUR) 60 57 63
(15) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) d. (Q) Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) 62 26 64
Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) d. Jill Craybas (USA) 75 64
(11) Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER) d. Virginie Razzano (FRA) 62 46 64
Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Shahar Peer (ISR) 16 62 60
Peng Shuai (CHN) d. Lourdes Domínguez Lino (ESP) 63 30 ret. (heat illness)

And Martina has just wrapped up a 7-5 6-3 against Vaidisova.

Hantuchova just really was flat today. her form has completely dropped off since the Auusie Open, only once winning consecutive matches( in Berlin)

well done Hingis! I like her (for once im not superficially basing it on looks:P)!

hantuchova though *shakes head*

Daniela better had get some form together come Wimbledon, i hate seeing her so dismal and ungainly.... She's also got some coaching issues she needs to sort out as well!

the whole weight issue seems to have knocked her for six?! looked like she had recovered from that for a while but not now :(

Her coach was nigel sears right? THey split a couple of weeks ago ??? anyone else in the frame?

It's a shame about Daniela's form. I do think that she could really progress playing singles, as she usually has quite a solid and correct game. However, i'm not sure if she has sufficient steel (yet) to really break through. i thought that her win over Serena at the AO would really boost her confidence that she could beat the best (rather than get beaten 4 and 2 each time). Maybe she's just in a bit of a dip at the moment. I mean, for starters, she was quite enigmatic about the split with her coach, and I haven't seen the explanation that she promised. Anyone pick anything up on this?

Ah well, hopefully her game will come together for the grass season, but another example of someone who probably needs a coach to help her get things back on track.

Maybe a successful doubles campaigns at the next couple of slams will help in terms of confidence?