Sharapova Gets Past Petrova

A rising young player and a savvy veteran mapped out notable victories Tuesday in the JPMorgan Chase Open at the Home Depot Center in Carson.

Maria Sharapova, the 16-year-old who advanced to the fourth round at Wimbledon last month, overcame her own ragged play to defeat fellow Russian Nadia Petrova, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5, in a second-round match, and No. 4-seeded Ai Sugiyama, 28, came from behind to beat Saori Obata, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, in a match that featured two of the four Japanese players in the tournament.

“I think it’s nice for us, for Japanese tennis,” Sugiyama said. “But I would like to play someone else. In the second set, I didn’t think about what country I am playing.”

Sugiyama, the best women’s tennis player in Japan, is No. 11 in the WTA rankings. Obata, ranked No. 86, is fourth in their home country, behind No. 58 Shinobu Asagoe and No. 68 Akiko Morigami. Asagoe lost to Silvia Farina Elia in another second-round match. Morigami lost in Monday’s first round.

After Sharapova won the first set easily, she was nearly done in by unforced errors in the last two sets before breaking Petrova in the 11th game of the third and closing out the match.

Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia beat Magui Serna of Spain, 6-3, 7-6 (3), in a first-round match.

Kuznetsova was ranked No. 869 in 2000 but has risen steadily to her present No. 29. She says her improvement is a result of playing doubles with Martina Navratilova.

“She’s the greatest player of all time,” said Kuznetsova, who has teamed with Navratilova to win titles in Australia, Dubai and Rome. They rallied to beat Tina Krizan and Barbara Schett, 1-6, 7-5, 6-2, Tuesday night.

“I’m very excited about it. When you play with somebody who’s been playing 20 years, you listen.”

Viktoriya Kutuzova, a 14-year-old wild-card entrant from Ukraine who is playing in her first tour event, beat No. 41-ranked Lina Krasnoroutskaya of Russia, 6-4, 6-4.

“I don’t really know right now what happened today because I just wasn’t there today,” said the 19-year-old Krasnoroutskaya, who felt ill and called for a doctor after her match. “I didn’t have the energy to move.”

The youngest player in the draw, Kutuzova received her first tour ranking this week -- No. 451 -- as result of her performances in three International Tennis Federation tournaments this year.

The Australian Open girls’ junior tournament runner-up in January, Kutuzova also advanced to semifinals of an ITF tournament in Evansville, Ind. She will play Alexandra Stevenson today.

“I was really nervous; not scared, just nervous. I think it was very important for me to start out well,” Kutuzova said.

Third-seeded Chanda Rubin, the defending champion, pulled out of the tournament because of an injured right shoulder. She will be replaced by Angelique Widjaja of Indonesia.