Tennis-Top seeds ease through, Dementieva, Venus exit Australian Open

الإثنين، 16 يناير 2006 - 19:00

كتب : Reem Abulleil

Lindsay Davenport

The opening day of the Australian Open witnessed few surprises on the women's side as most top seeds advanced to the second round, despite soaring temperatures in Melbourne.

Top-seeded American, Lindsay Davenport cruised past Australian wild card, Casey Dellacqua 6-2, 6-1 to set up a second round match against Croatia’s Karolina Sprem.

The 29-year-old star, who won the title in 2000 and reached the final in 2005, finished off her opponent in 57 minutes showing great form and confidence.

Meanwhile, fourth-seeded teenager, Maria Sharapova made a swift move to the second round as she topped Germany’s Sandra Kloesel 6-2, 6-1 in less than an hour.

The 18-year-old Russian, who briefly topped the world rankings last season, will next take on America’s Ashley Harkleroad, who beat Shuai Peng of China.

Defending champion, Serena Williams suffered a scare during her first round encounter with China’s Na Li as the American was forced into a deciding set after she faltered in the tiebreak of the second.

Williams held her own to claim a 6-3, 6-7 (1-7), 6-2 victory and advanced to play France's Camille Pin in round two.

Other seeds who secured passage to the second round included eighth-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne, sixth-seeded Nadia Petrova, 14th-seeded Svetlana Kutznetsova and 17th-seeded Daniela Hantuchova.

Ninth-seeded Elena Dementieva became the first seed to crash out of the tournament as she slumped to a 5-7, 2-6 against Germany’s Julia Schruff after committing 12 double-faults and 37 unforced errors.

Venus Williams, Ai Sugiyama, Klara Koukalova, Anabel Medina Garrigues and Tatiana Golovin were also among the seeded players who suffered major upsets on Monday.

التعليقات