Maria Sharapova shook off the rust to beat Japan's Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-7, 6-1 in the first round of the Stanford Classic on Monday. Fellow Russian Elena Dementieva joined her in the second round after beating Britain's Anne Keothavong 6-1, 6-4. On the comeback trail after shoulder surgery last year, three-time Grand Slam champion Sharapova conceded she needed more matches to get her form back. “I had so many chances to close out the match and I didn't,” the 62nd ranked Sharapova said. “I couldn't raise my level when had to. But in the third set I didn't do anything wrong, I was steady and kept doing the right things.” After winning the first set, Sharapova squandered a 5-2 lead in the second and was unable to cash in on two match points leading 6-4 in the tiebreaker, double faulting and committing a backhand error. The Japanese player moved ahead with a scalding backhand winner and then took the tiebreaker 8-6 after Sharapova dumped a backhand into the net. However, the former world number one turned it around in the third set with huge groundstrokes and aggressive returns to put the game away against her 34-year-old opponent. Dementieva said she was still adjusting to jetlag, but was pleased with her play. The world number four is setting her sights on a US Open title run. Seventh seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland also moved ahead with a 6-0, 6-1 demolition of Romania's Sorana Cirstea; and Monica Niculescu of Romania beat America's Meghann Shaughnessy, 6-1, 6-0. Levine advances In Los Angeles, American Jesse Levine advanced to the second round with a 6-2, 6-3 win over compatriot Bobby Reynolds at the $700,000 LA Open on Monday. The left-handed Levine advances to face No. 1 seeded Tommy Haas in the next round on Wednesday. It was Levine's sixth win in his past nine matches. Two-time winner Haas, of Germany, is the biggest name in a weak field that lacks a player ranked the top 15 in the world. Haas is ranked 20th. Levine's season highlight so far was beating Marat Safin in the opening round of Wimbledon. If he continues to do well in Los Angeles he could meet Safin in the later rounds. Safin is seeded eighth in the 28-player field. In other opening round matches, Australian Chris Guccione beat American Kevin Kim, 6-1, 6-4, and Robert Kendrick spanked fellow American Vince Spadea 6-0, 6-0. Spadea holds the record for the longest winless skid in professional tennis by losing 21 consecutive matches. Zvonareva, Schnyder upset Top-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia and No. 2 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland were knocked out in the first round of the Istanbul Cup on Tuesday. Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine defeated Zvonareva 6-2, 1-6, 6-4, and Rossana De Los Rios of Paraguay edged Schnyder 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-3 at the hard-court tournament. Zvonareva, the Australian Open semifinalist who pulled out of the Wimbledon third round with an ankle injury a month ago, said she was out of form. Schnyder blamed her defeat on a lack of training since playing in the Palermo Open this month. Third-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain topped Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus 6-4, 6-2, fifth-seeded Vera Dushevina of Russia clipped Yuliana Fedak of Ukraine 6-1, 6-4, and eighth-seeded Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic outlasted Cagla Buyukakcay of Turkey 4-6, 6-3, 6-0. Other first-round winners included Julia Goerges of Germany, Urzsula Radwanska of Poland and Angelique Kerber of Germany. Ferrero, Meltzer thru In Croatia, former No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero beat Christophe Rochus of Belgium 6-3, 6-2 Tuesday in the first round of the Croatia Open. The fifth-seeded Spaniard is playing in his first tour event since reaching the Wimbledon quarterfinals last month. Fourth-seeded Juergen Meltzer of Austria also advanced, defeating Brian Dabul of Argentina 6-3, 7-5. Fabio Fognini of Italy rallied to beat eighth-seeded Mischa Zverev of Germany 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, and Frederico Gil of Portugal topped Sergio Roitman of Argentina 7-5, 6-2. Potito Starace of Italy won 6-1, 6-3 over Grega Zemlja of Slovenia, who played as a replacement because Simon Gruel of Germany withdrew after fainting earlier in the day.
