3 Jan 2011

Sacha Jones says Kuznetsova's experience prevailed

8:36 pm on 3 January 2011

The New Zealand number one Sacha Jones didn't survive the first round at the ASB Classic in Auckland but still played some inspired tennis against the third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.

The Russian, who's now ranked 27th, is a two-time Grand Slam winner and she beat Jones - who's 289th - 6-4 6-2.

The young wildcard says unforced errors meant she couldn't convert break point opportunities at vital times.

Jones says her serve wasn't as good as it can be and she didn't get as many free points as usual and hit a few more double faults. But overall it came down to her lack of experience.

Another New Zealander, the national number two Marina Erakovic, and her Swedish doubles partner Sofia Arvidson, easily beat Romania's Simona Halep and Tamira Paszek of Austria 6-2 6-1.

Erakovic plays the seventh seeded Rusian Elena Vesnina in singles in her opening round match on Tuesday afternoon.