Neha no match for Kirilenko

Neha Uberoi found fourth seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko too hot to handle and went down tamely in the opening round of the US $175,000 WTA

Sunfeast Open in Kolkata on Monday.

The US girl of Indian origin made a series of unforced errors and lost 2-6, 2-6 in 62 minutes at the Netaji Indoor stadium centre court.

Neha, who came through from the qualifiers, seemed a bundle of nerves and had no answers to the good serves and precise shots unleashed by the world number 35.

The 21-year-old Neha lost the serve in the opening game and suffered the same fate in the seventh to lose in 32 minutes.

The second set began with Neha committing two consecutive double faults to concede her serve to the Russian, who will now lock horns with compatriot Ekaterina Ivanova in the second round.

Neha, however, let lose some good crosscourts to break in the fourth game and restore parity at 2-2.

This spurred on the Russian, who raised her game by a few notches to win four games on the trot and script Neha's exit from the singles.

Later, wild card entrant Kyra Shroff was virtually given tennis lessons by eighth seed Chinese Taipei's Yung-Jan Chan, who won 6-0, 6-0 to set up a second round battle with Jamila Gajdosova of Slovakia.

Kyra, the promising 14-year-old, saw nothing go right for her during the 45-minute tie.

Earlier, Australia's Casey Dellacqua and Ivanova moved into the second round, carving out contrasting victories.

World number 85 Dellacqua took only 69 minutes to breeze past Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak 6-2, 6-3.

Ivanova, on the other hand, had to fight a three-setter before getting the better of Briton Naomi Cavaday 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 in another centre court match.

Dellacqua and Wozniak traded breaks in the first two games of the match, before the Aussie demolished her opponent in the third and fifth games to open up a 4-1 lead.

The left-hander Dellacqua kept up the pressure and broke Wozniak again in the sixth game before retaining serve in the seventh to pocket the set.

The second set saw the 22-year-old Aussie, who had reached the second round here last year, break Wozniak in the third and fifth games, while the Canadian reduced the margin by demolishing her opponent in the fourth.

However, the 104th ranked Wozniak dropped the serve in the ninth to concede the set and bow out of the competition.

Dellacqua will take on the winner of the first round tie between ninth seed Russian Yaroslava Shvedova and Israel's Cziora Obziler for a place in the quarter-final.

In another match, Jamila Gajdosova of Slovakia brushed aside the feeble challenge from French girl Youlia Fedossova 6-3, 6-4.