Top-seeded Simona Halep won her first match since an opening-round exit at the Australian Open, beating Ana Konjuh 6-4, 7-6 (2) Wednesday at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy Tournament. The fourth-ranked Romanian, who was broken three times, will next face Natalia Vikhlyantseva in the quarterfinals. The Russian wild-card entry defeated eighth-seeded Daria Kasatkina 7-6 (4), 6-2. Playing in her home city for the first time, third-seeded veteran Svetlana Kuznetsova swept aside Moscow-born Australian Daria Gavrilova, winning 6-1, 6-3. That sets up a quarterfinal against Yulia Putintseva, who earlier beat Annika Beck 6-4, 6-0. Also, fifth-seeded Elena Vesnina of Russia beat Olympic doubles partner Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-1. Vesnina and Makarova won the women's doubles gold medal in Rio de Janeiro. Vesnina will face Alize Cornet in the second round. No Williams sisters or Kerber for Germany-US in Fed Cup Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Angelique Kerber will sit out the first-round Fed Cup matches between the United States and Germany. New US captain Kathy Rinaldi announced her roster Wednesday for the best-of-five series on Feb. 11-12 in Maui, Hawaii. The Williams sisters met in the Australian Open final, with Serena winning her 23rd Grand Slam title. Serena also replaced Kerber, who was the Australian Open defending champion, at No. 1 in the WTA rankings this week. The American team will include Australian Open singles semifinalist CoCo Vandeweghe, Australian Open doubles champion Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Alison Riske and Shelby Rodgers. The German roster includes Laura Siegemund, Andrea Petkovic, Julia Goerges and Carina Witthoeft. The winning country will meet Spain or the Czech Republic in the Fed Cup semifinals in April.
