Wednesday, Jan 21, 2004
Wednesday, Jan 21, 2004 |
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Tennis
MELBOURNE, JAN. 20. Venus Williams looked rejuvenated from a six-month layoff. She returned at the Australian Open and needed less than an hour to beat American teenager Ashley Harkleroad 6-2, 6-1 on Tuesday in a first-round match. "It's been a long, long time," she said. The third-seeded Williams was very focussed on Melbourne Park's centre court. She showed no rust — and no signs of the abdominal injury that sidelined her — while serving at speeds up to 119 mph. Williams' only slips were a twisted ankle in the fourth game and one dropped service game, in the fifth game of the second set. "I was going for my swing volley and twisted my right ankle," she said. "I'll monitor it, see how it goes — I'm not expecting it'll cause any problems." Her last match was a loss in the Wimbledon final last July to her sister Serena, who also beat her in the Australian Open final. Second-seeded Kim Clijsters of Belgium, who injured an ankle two weeks ago, advanced by overpowering Marlene Weingartner of Germany. Weingartner knocked off defending champion Jennifer Capriati in her first round last year while advancing to the fourth round. Clijsters often had the German off-balance or lunging for stinging shots into the corners and finished off the match in an hour with a forehand crosscourt that kissed the line. Six more seeded men lost, including No. 5 Guillermo Coria, raising the total to 13 in two days. Also eliminated was 1994 Wimbledon winner Conchita Martinez, the 13th-seeded woman, who lost 7-6 (7), 6-1 to Puerto Rico's Kristina Brandi. Wimbledon champion Roger Federer found the range with his powerful forehand and beat Alex Bogomolov Jr. 6-3, 6-4, 6-0. The second-seeded Federer reeled off seven consecutive games to close in 1 hour, 29 minutes and extend Bogomolov's record in Grand Slam tournaments to 0-5. Federer will meet another American qualifier in the second round after Jeff Morrison beat Dennis van Scheppingen 6-4, 6-2, 6-4. Former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt was leading Cecil Mamiit 6-2, 6-4, 0-1 when the American retired after he crashed into the umpire's chair while chasing a drop shot. Mamiit had his right ankle treated, served in the next game and then withdrew. In other men's matches, 10th-seeded Mark Philippoussis, the hero of Australia's Davis Cup finals victory over Spain last month, thrilled the home fans with a 7-6 (6), 6-2, 7-6 (4) win over Thomas Johansson of Sweden. Third-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero needed only 66 minutes to beat fellow Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-0, 6-1, 6-1, eighth-seeded David Nalbandian of Argentina beat Brazilian Ricardo Mello 6-2, 6-1, 6-4, and No. 11 Tim Henman of Britain defeated Spain's Albert Montanes 6-2, 6-4, 6-2. They avoided the rash of upsets that claimed Martin Verkerk (17th), Felix Mantilla (23rd), Max Mirnyi (24), Jonas Bjorkman (25th) and Felicio Lopez (28th). Greg Rusedski lost 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 to 26th-seeded Albert Costa in likely his last match before he faces an ATP doping hearing at Montreal on Feb. 9.
In the women's draw, 12th-seeded Paulo Suarez, winner at a warmup event in Canberra last week, beat fellow Argentine Gisela Dulko 6-2, 6-2 and Marion Bartoli of France had a 6-3, 6-1 win over American Alexandra Stevenson, who reached the 1999 Wimbledon semifinals as a qualifier but hasn't been beyond the second round at 18 Grand Slam tournaments since. Sixth-seeded Anastasia Myskina was one of three Russian women advancing, joined by 21st-seeded Lina Krasnoroutskaya and Elena Likhovtseva.
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