Zvonareva eases past Wang

Pattaya - Former world No 2 Vera Zvonareva of Russia needed only 63 minutes on Monday to dispatch last year's Asian Games champion Qiang Wang of China 6-2 6-2 in the opening round of the WTA Thailand Open.

The former winner, who won in Pattaya in 2009 and 2010, had little trouble in brushing aside the 23-year-old Chinese, the women's singles gold medalist in the Incheon Asian Games.

Relying on her solid baseline game, Zvonareva, who fell to 189 in the world rankings, continued her comeback after a series of injuries by dominating a one-sided contest.

She meets Chinese eighth seed Zhang Shuai or Croatian Donna Vekic in the second round.

Top seed and world No 21 Peng SHuai of China plays Alla Kdryavtseva of Russia in her opening match Tuesday.