seeded Nikolay Davydenko withstood a dozen aces from American Robert Kendrick to win 7-6 (10), 6-3 in the second round of the Pilot Pen on Tuesday. Davydenko struggled with Kendrick's serves, which occasionally topped 130mph (209kph). But he used a strong backhand return up 11-10 in the first-set tiebreaker that Kendrick put into the net. “He put it right at my feet,” Kendrick said. “I deserved it, I should have served to his forehand.” Davydenko broke Kendrick at love to go up 5-3 in the second set and served out the match. The Russian was ranked No. 8 despite missing most of the spring with a heel injury. He said he hopes to do more than just get his game in shape for next week's US Open. “For me, it's important winning matches also here,” he said. “If I'm winning (the) tournament, I'm making points here ... for me, it's important for the ranking.” Davydenko was the third Russian man to beat an American Tuesday. Igor Kunitsyn beat Taylor Dent 6-3, 6-4, and Igor Andreev defeated Kevin Kim 6-3, 6-1. Second-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain also advanced with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Paul Capdeville of Chile. In the women's draw, Australian Samantha Stosur needed nearly 3 hours to eliminate Frenchwoman Alize Cornet 6-7 (8), 6-2, 6-4 in her first-round match. “It was a bit of a battle out there,” Stosur said. “I got through the second set pretty quick and then started to feel better about things. The third was pretty tight. I was pleased with the way I was able to get out of it and come back from a set down.” Third-seeded Flavia Pennetta had a much easier time, defeating Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania 6-1, 6-2. “I was very focused on my game, and it was working pretty good,” Pennetta said. Amelie Mauresmo, a finalist four years ago, advanced with her first win over Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine in three attempts at 6-1, 6-1, and sixth-seeded Marion Bartoli defeat Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. On Monday, Svetlana Kuznetsova needed three sets Monday to overcome China's Zheng Jie 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-4. The French Open champion, who received a wild-card entry into this tournament last week, won the first set easily and appeared to be cruising in the second, up 4-2 before Zheng rallied. Using a strong backhand, Zheng won the next three games, and eventually took the set in a 7-5 tiebreaker. Zheng broke Kuznetsova in the third game of the final set and went up 3-1, before the Russian staged a comeback of her own. She won the next three games, and took the match on Zheng's serve when a backhand went long. Amelie Mauresmo had also overcome sloppy serving to beat Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-4, 6-1 in her first-round match. It took the fifth-seeded woman, Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland three sets to beat Italy's Roberta Vinci 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (5). Former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus lost his first-round match to qualifier Frederico Gil of Portugal in straight sets 6-4, 6-3. Baghdatis was given a wild-card entry into the tournament. He said he will skip the US Open. “I'll go back home (to Cyprus), take two days off and start working again,” he said. “I'll forget this match and go on.” Sixth-seed Sam Querrey led a trio of American men who advanced Monday. Querrey outlasted Marc Gicquel of France in three sets 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3 in the final match of the night, and the first of the second round. Earlier, Kevin Kim beat Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, and Robert Kendrick ousted Frederik Nielsen of Denmark 6-3, 7-5. Kendrick was to face top-seed Nikolay Davydenko in the second round Tuesday.
