Defending Champs Medina Garrigues, Kirilenko and Zheng advance at Estoril

By Chris Oddo

Photo Credit: AP Photo

(May 1, 2012)—Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues kicked off her title defense at the Estoril Open with a win over her victim in last year's final, and former champions Maria Kirilenko and Zheng Jie also won in Estoril today.

Medina Garrigues, a former world No. 16 and the WTA's active leader in clay-court titles, took out German qualifier Kristina Barrois, 6-4, 6-1. "When you win a tournament you always want to come back and defend it the next year," said Garrigues, "but every match this year is going to be difficult."

After a closely contested first set that lasted 55 minutes, the second set was much quicker. Medina Garrigues only dropped four points on her serve while stealing 12 of 14 points against the German's second serve in the second set.

Maria Kirilenko, who is enjoying another stint inside the WTA's top 20 as of last week (currently 19), erased quadruple set point in the first-set tiebreaker against Brit Elena Baltacha, and eventually cruised to a 7-6(6), 6-1 win.

Kirilenko had trailed 4-1 in the first set before rallying.

The 2008 champion converted 6 of 8 break point opportunities against Baltacha.

Having been ranked inside the top 20 on four separate occasions, Kirilenko is looking to leapfrog her career-best ranking of No 18 with another deep run at Estoril.

Zheng Jie, who participated in the WTA's first all-Chinese final at Estoril en route to a title run in 2006, was also victorious today, 6-3, 6-1 over Ekaterina Makarova. Zheng broke serve twice in the first set and four times in the second to lock down the victory in 81 minutes.

No. 4 seed Petra Cetkovska, No. 6 seed Kaia Kanepi and No. 9 seed Polana Hercog also advanced today.

Qualifiers Heather Watson and Karin Knapp, unseeded players Galina Voskoboeva and Jarmila Gajdosova, and wildcard Maria Joao Koehler also advanced.

Click here for the official DRAW.