Vesnina advances in Kremlin Cup

MOSCOW, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Wild-card entrant Elena Vesnina swept through her first-round match Tuesday at the $1.34 million Kremlin Cup tennis tournament in Moscow.

Vesnina defeated Emmanuelle Gagliardi 6-2, 6-4 and earned a second-round shot at No. 8-seeded Nicole Vaidisova, who took a 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 victory from Yaroslava Shvedova in her first-round match of the indoor tournament.

Elena Dementieva, unseeded but twice the Kremlin Cup runner-up, opened her tournament with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win over Alicia Molik. Dementieva next faces seventh-seeded Patty Schnyder.

Crowd favorite Maria Kirilenko was ousted in a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 loss to Agnieszka Radwanska.

Also claiming first-round wins Tuesday were Gisela Dulko, Tatiana Perebiynis and Victoria Azarenka.

Dulko advanced into a match with top-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova while Azarenka drew No. 2-seeded Maria Sharapova for his second-round match.