Kournikova crashes out to wildcard Fokina
Moscow - Top seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who has won the Kremlin Cup for the last four years, got his campaign for a fifth consecutive title here underway with a comfortable straight sets dismissal of Russian countryman Mikhail Youzhny here on Tuesday.
However, Russian golden girl Anna Kournikova, dogged by a foot injury for most of the year, was unable to follow Kafelnikov's example when she suffered another first round defeat in the women's event, being beaten by 17-year-old wild card Galina Fokina.
Olympic champion Kafelnikov barely broke sweat as he handed out a one-hour masterclass to his 19-year-old opponent who was awarded a wild-card into the first round of this million dollar event.
Kafelnikov, 27, a semi-finalist at the US Open this year, took a commanding 5-1 lead in the opening set before winning it 6-3.
In the second set, Yuzhny tightened his game, but Kafelnikov's greater experience told as he broke twice to win the set 6-3 and the match.
Fifth-seeded Swede Thomas Johansson booked his place in the next round sweeping past Italy's Davide Sanguinetti winning in 6-2, 6-3 in just 50 minutes.
Eighth-seeded Frenchman Nicolas Escude fell at the first hurdle suffering a three-set defeat at the hands of 34-year-old Swedish veteran Magnus Gustafsson who came through the qualifiers.
Switzerland's Roger Federer, the third seed, who is currently 10th in the ATP Champions race, was also eliminated in his first ever appearance in Moscow by Germany's Nicolas Kiefer 3-6, 6-1, 6-7 (4/7).
Jerome Golmard, of France, defeated Julien Bouter to register his first win against his compatriot in three meetings.
The rivals fought for the initiative throughout the opening set but Golmard, 28, had the better concentration, breaking his opponent's serve in the 11th game to take the set 7-5 in 51 minutes.
In the second set, Golmard, broke his rival's serve in the fifth game on his way to winning the set 6-3 and match in 104 minutes.
In the $1 185 000 women's tournament Russia's Elena Dementieva, seeded eight, outclassed compatriot Elena Bovina 6-2, 6-3 in one hour to move into the second round.
Yugoslavia's Jelena Dokic, seeded fifth, battled through to the second round defeating another Russian, 17-year-old Lina Krasnorutskaya to record her third victory in their three head-to-head clashes.
The opponents exchanged breaks throughout the opening set but Dokic, who is currently ranked 11th in the world, enjoyed the greater precision, winning 6-3 in 26 minutes.
Krasnorutskaya hit back to level the match by taking the second set 7-5 in 40 minutes.
Dokic seized the lead twice in the deciding set, but Krasnorutskaya bounced back against her 18-year-old Yugoslavian opponent.
However, Dokic gained the decisive break in the 11th game to win the set 7-5 and match in 1 hour 51 minutes.
"Lina (Krasnorutskaya) was returning pretty well and put constant pressure on me," Dokic said.
"Usually I'm serve much better, but today I felt tired as match went on," added Dokic, who served up 14 double faults.
"I shall keep on working hard to improve my serve."
In the second round, Dokic will face Russian 17-year-old wild card Galina Fokina, who beat fellow compatriot and crowd favourite Anna Kournikova 6-2, 1-6, 6-2.
It was Kournikova's second defeat in the space of a week after she made her long-awaited return from injury last Thursday in the Leipzig tournament.
But she was beaten in Germany by fellow Russian Anastasia Myskina 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Kournikova, ranked 20 in the world, had been out of action for three months with a stress fracture in her left foot, which she originally injured during a practice session in late February. - Sapa-AFP