Myskina beats Molik

Stockholm:

Anastasia Myskina started her quest for the Nordic Light Open title by battling past Australian wild card Alicia Molik 7-6 (5), 6-3 on Tuesday. Myskina played the big points better than 2004 champion Molik, who reached No 8 in the world last year before a bad inner ear infection derailed her career. She took seven months off to recover and returned in May. With her first hardcourt victory of the summer in hand, Myskina will face Polish qualifier Urszula Radwanska in the second round. Radwanska, ranked 349th, beat Russian Ekaterina Bychkova 6-2, 6-2. Other games Third-seeded Zheng Jie defeated doubles partner Yan Zi 7-5, 6-0, and fourth-seeded Sofia Arvidsson battled past Finland's Emma Laine 7-5, 4-6, 7-5. Johanna Larsson, the 17-year-old who received a wild card into her first WTA Tour event, rallied from behind to beat Kristina Barrois of Germany 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 and give Sweden two players in the second round. Slovakian teenager Jarmila Gajdosova upset sixth-seeded Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus 6-2, 6-3 while Greece's Eleni Daniilidou topped French qualifier Stephanie Cohen-Aloro 6-2, 5-7 6-4. Also moving into the second round were Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, Emmanuelle Gagliardi of Switzerland, Eva Birnerova of the Czech Republic and Yulia Beygelzimer of Ukraine. (AP)