Maria Kirilenko after her win on Monday. Picture by Gautam Bose

Calcutta: Not many people would have heard about Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich. Much less a tennis star. The Russian pianist and conductor, who died on April 27 this year, is widely considered to be one of the greatest cellists of 20th century.

This is where Maria Kirilenko differs from the rest. The Russian world No. 35 is an avid Rostropovich fan. In fact, she listens to Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi and Mozart for hours. Quite unusual for a busy professional on tour. Most of her peers would be hooked on to hip-hop and R&B.

Her one-hour demolition of Neha Uberoi of the US also had a classical feel about it. No hustle bustle, just an effortless victory.

The Russian, who is a close friend of compatriot Maria Sharapova and shares some of her tall, blonde looks, was efficiency personified at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on Monday.

The 6-2, 6-2 victory, which saw her move into the second round of the WTA Sunfeast Open, pitts her against Ekaterina Ivanova of Russia. In an earlier match on Monday, Ivanova outpaced British qualifier Naomi Cavaday in an one-hour-nine-minute baseline slugfest. The World No.172 won 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.

Breaking Neha in the very first game and holding her serve regally, Kirilenko went up 3-1 almost within no time. Before Neha could find her footing, the fleet-footed Russian had wrapped up the first set in 31 minutes.

Despite the vocal few rooting for the American of Indian origin, Neha seemed a little awed.

She found no answer to Kirilenko’s all court game and was found wanting on fitness. A few times in the second set she set up good approach shots, only to waste those away with feeble volleys.

The second set took a minute less than the first. Kirilenko later agreed that Neha failed to ask questions of her.

Asked if she was tested at any point in the match, Kirilenko replied “Not really. I was focused and calm all through.”

She knew her powerful serves did half the job.

“Good serves always make a difference and makes your work that much easier,” she quipped during the post match press conference.

Cavaday, who stretched former Swiss World No.1 Martina Hingis to three sets in Wimbledon this year, has a massive forehand and an equally impressive backhand. However, the British qualifier, who is under the tutelage of David Felgate, Tim Henman’s former coach, still needs to find a way to keep her forehands on target.

All Ivanova, who’s yet to win a title on the tour, did, was to keep the ball in play. Cavaday did the rest by committing a huge number of unforced errors and found herself a set down within the first 35 minutes of the match. She failed to capitalise on as many as six break points.

The next set saw Cavaday keep her first serves on target and she converted two of her five break points to clinch the issue 6-2. The game evolved solely around the Briton as she created more chances than her opponent.

In the third set, Ivanova, who lost her cool a couple of times in arguing with the chair umpire, started keeping more balls in. The Russian also tried to vary the angles and slow the pace. Her strategy paid dividends as Cavaday once again lapsed into committing errors. From 1-2 down in the final set, Ivanova romped home 6-2, winning the last five games in row.

In the day’s other singles encounter, Australian Casey Dellacqua beat 104-ranked Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak 6-2, 6-3. In 2006, Dellacqua came into the tournament as the last accepted player and promptly pulled off one massive upset by showing second seed Karolina Sprem the door in a three-setter.

The world No.85’s game is shorn of frills and she took little time on Monday to get into the groove. Barely had Wozniak registered her first game when Dellacqua turned on the heat and bagged four games in a row. She eventually claimed the first set 6-2.

Wozniak, who lost to Sania Mirza in the qualifiers at Los Angeles this year, showed a semblance of fight in the second set. She broke the Australian in the fourth game but was immediately broken following a miserable service game.

The rest was a mere formality.

It was also a mere formality for Chinese Taipei’s Yung-Jan Chan, who blew away Indian hopeful Kyra Shroff 6-0, 6-0 in a late match on Monday. The 14-year-old would like to forget her initiation into the WTA tour.

In another singles encounter, between Jarmila Gajdosova and Youlia Fedossova, the Slovak, 132nd in WTA rankings, defeated the higher-placed Frenchwoman 6-3, 6-4.

TUESDAY’S MATCHES

CENTRE COURT
11.30am: Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) vs Edina Gallovits (Rou); Followed by Tatiana Poutchek (Blr) vs Alla Kudryavtseva (Rus); Followed by Tara Iyer/Aleksandra Wozniak (Ind/Can) vs Julia Efremova/Ekaterina Ivanova (Rus).
4.15pm: Mixed Doubles Exhibition
4.30pm: Tzipora Obziler (Isr) vs Yaroslava Shvedova (Rus)
7.00pm: Sandy Gumulya (Ina) vs Sunitha Rao (Ind); Followed by Marion Bartoli (Fra) vs Vania King (US)

COURT I
12.30pm: Anastasia Rodionova (Rus) vs Hana Sromova (Cze); Followed by Alberta Brianti (Ita) vs Sofia Arvidsson (Swe); Followed by Akgul Amanmuradova/Casey Dellacqua (Uzb/Aus) vs Tatiana Poutchek/Anastasia Rodionova (Blr/Rus); Followed by Sanaa Bhambri/Isha Lakhani (Ind) vs Sara Errani/Flavia Pennetta (Ita)