Kuznetsova cruises to victory

Moscow - Two-time Grand Slam champion and fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, barely broke sweat as she cruised into the next round of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, Russa, on Monday when Czech Republic's Klara Koukalova retired after losing the first set 6-1.

The 29-year-old Russian, currently 26th in the world, looked in complete command from the start and broke twice to take the opening frame in 30 minutes.

After that the Czech veteran Koukalova, 32, retired blaming a viral illness for her withdrawal.

"It wasn't bad at all to play a short match today," Kuznetsova said.

"I always prefer to start the tournament from the very beginning as when you have an opening round bye it's sometimes hard to play against an opponent who has already adjusted to the surface and the arena."