Tennis

Kuznetsova seals 100th grand slam win

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-09-06 10:01

NEW YORK - Svetlana Kuznetsova chalked up her 100th grand slam win in singles by beating her fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko 6-3 6-4 at the US Open on Saturday.

Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia follows through on a return during her match against compatriot Maria Kirilenko during the US Open tennis tournament in New York September 4, 2010. [Agencies]

The 2004 Flushing Meadows champion used all her big match experience to blunt most of the effects of the swirling winds at Arthur Ashe Stadium and wrap up a straight sets victory.

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Despite having her share of problems in the tricky conditions, she served strongly and was never broken in the match and mixed her potent forehand with some deft touches at the net.

Kuznetsova was gifted a single break point opportunity in the seventh game which she comfortably took and wrapped up the set with another break. She sealed the second set with a single break.

"It (the wind) definitely disturbed me, I made a few mistakes," she said.

"It was improtant to keep moving to the ball and I think I did that pretty well.

"I sometimes find movement hard and that's one of my problems."

Her next opponent, in the fourth round on Monday, is Dominika Cibulkova after the Slovakian defeated Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain 6-0 6-1. The winner would face either top seed Caroline Wozniacki or Maria Sharapova in the quarter-finals.

Kuznetsova, who also won the French Open last year and was a finalist at both Paris and New York on other occasion, would normally be a heavy favourite to win but has struggled with her form over the past year and slipped down the rankings and out of the top 10.

"I still have to build if I want to win the tournament," she said.