Kuznetsova beats Cirstea at French Open

Kuznetsova lost the first six points and first three

games Sunday,then swept nine games in a row and beat Sorana Cirstea 6-3,6-1.

Soderling,who ended Rafael Nadal’s reign at the French Open a year ago,won the first nine games and defeated wild card Laurent Recouderc 6-0,6-2,6-3.

Kuznetsova,seeded sixth,arrived at Roland Garros only 1-3 on clay this year,and she drew a dangerous opening opponent in Cirstea,a quarterfinalist a year ago.

The match began shortly after 11 a.m.,and even in a nearly empty stadium,Kuznetsova found herself a bit rattled.

“Definitely I was a little bit nervous,” she said. “It was rough start for me.”

The Russian needed 12 minutes to win a game,but she was in control after that. Three times she rallied to take a game after losing the first three points.

“She was down,so she had to change a little bit,” Cirstea said. “She went more for her shots,and they went in.”

Cirstea squandered chances to get back into the match in the second set,when she failed to convert all four break points.

A year ago,Kuznetsova beat Serena Williams en route to her second Grand Slam championship. But she has not won any titles this year and her record is 9-9,the worst of any top-10 woman.

“I was not showing as good results as I would like to,” Kuznetsova said,”but I knew this moment has to pass,because I deserve better.”

The tournament began in warm,sunny conditions that had spectators fanning themselves,but Soderling didn’t tax himself in the heat. He lost only nine of 58 points on his serve and broke six times.

“It’s always nice to have a quick match in the early rounds,” the Swede said. “I got to hit a few balls. We had a few rallies. So it was a good match.”