Day two of Russia's biggest tennis event – the Kremlin Cup – saw first surprise exits from the draw. They included 6th-seed Frenchman Michael Llodra, 6th-seed American Venus Williams and the Kerr/Murray pair, 1st-seed in the men’s do

Llodra fell a victim of Denis Istomin from Uzbekistan, who made it to the main draw through the qualifying tournament. After losing the tie-break in the first set Llodra never recovered, letting go of the second – 7:6 (2), 6:3.

Home crowd’s favourite Marat Safin looked set for a similar pattern, but luck favoured him in the tie-break and he managed to come out on top of his scramble with qualifying graduate Noam Okun from Israel 7:6 (5), 3:6, 6:4.

Unlike Safin, Igor Andreev on Monday barely broke a sweat, as his opponent – Taiwanese Yen-Hsun Lu – retired after losing the first set 6:2.

An eagerly awaited guest in Moscow – Fabrice Santoro – all but lost to Kazakh Yuri Schukin, before narrowly taking the tie-break and gaining control in the third set – 4:6, 7:6 (3), 6:4.

There were early exits for two Russian wild-cards – Evgeny Donskoy and Aleksandr Kudryavtsev, but Nikolay Davydenko confirmed his status as top seed by beating Frenchman Florent Serra 6:1, 7:5.

Most Russian women proceed

Vera Dushevina was the first Russian to play in the main draw, beating Nicole Vaidisova from Czech Republic 6:1, 3:6, 6:3.

There were two all-Russian clashes to begin the Tuesday’s women’s draw. 7th seed Vera Zvonareva was a straight-sets winner over Maria Kirilenko 6:4, 6:4. And then Ekaterina Makarova defeated Elena Vesnina courtesy of two tie-breaks 7:6 (4), 7:6 (1).

Svetlana Kuznetsova had an opponent as tough as China’s Na Li in the very first round, but managed to finish the job in straight sets 6:4, 7:5. France’s Amelie Mauresmo had obvious difficulties overcoming compatriot Alize Cornet – 6:7 (3), 6:4, 6:3, which is a worrisome sign ahead of her second round clash with Dinara Safina.

Unlike Mauresmo, Venus Williams was set for an easy draw in the second round – wild-carder Makarova – but Flavia Pennetta claimed upper hand in their first round clash with 6:4, 2:6, 6:4 condemning Williams to an early exit.

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