Monday, Mar 15, 2004
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Tennis
INDIAN WELLS, MARCH 14. Two-time defending champion Lleyton Hewitt rolled to a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Thomas Johansson of Sweden in his opening match on Saturday night in the Pacific Life Open, just hours after fiancee Kim Clijsters withdrew because of a wrist injury. Last year, the Australian won the men's title at Indian Wells and Clijsters of Belgium was the women's champion. "It's disappointing anytime one of us has to pull out of a tournament, especially the situation," Hewitt said. "She really enjoys playing here and plays extremely well here." Andre Agassi also won his first match, defeating Spaniard David Sanchez 6-2, 6-2, while the top-ranked women's player Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium was similarly dominant in her opening match, beating America's Samantha Reeves 6-2, 6-2. Clijsters, ranked No. 2, hurt her left wrist in a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Angelika Roesch on Friday night. Her wrist swelled, and the injury was diagnosed as a bone bruise and tendinitis. Clijsters couldn't recall how she hurt herself, but said the pain began late in her match against Roesch. "It felt like it was getting worse when I was hitting backhands," the Belgian star said. "After the match, I put some ice on it and had (the physical therapists) look at it. "It felt a lot worse this morning. It's disappointing. I felt like I was playing well, especially in Paris and Antwerp. This is one of my favourite tournaments throughout the whole year. "It's definitely very, very disappointing." She doesn't know how long the wrist may take to heal, saying it could be two or three weeks, even six weeks. "Frustrating as well is the not knowing what's going to happen in the next couple of weeks," Clijsters said. Hewitt believes the injury may be due to the wear and tear of hitting a two-handed backhand. "Double-handed backhand obviously has something to do with it. I know there are a lot of players who have had a similar injury in the last few years, and they've been out quite a while," Hewitt said. Agassi, the Indian Wells champion three years ago, had several long rallies with Sanchez, but eventually was just too efficient for his opponent.
"I felt good about every part of my game." Agassi has been taking some time off, but didn't feel rusty. "I've been working hard, practicing well," he said. "Obviously matches are different. You hope nothing pops up or sort of reveals itself when you're out there. "Today I felt like everything was right where I expected it to be." Taylor Dent ousted Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil 7-5, 6-4. Kuerten made the final last year, but was forced to play both a semifinal and the final on the same day because of a rain delay. Hewitt beat him 6-1, 6-1 in the title match. Mikhail Youzhny of Russia eliminated 12th-seeded Australian Mark Philippoussis 7-6 (5), 7-5 in another late match. Sesil Karatancheva, a 14-year-old from Bulgaria making her WTA Tour debut, came back from a 5-3 deficit in the third set to take a 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 victory over 25th-ranked Magui Serna of Spain, the No. 17 seed. The tournament concludes with the men's and women's finals on March 21.
The results: Men (second round): Andre Agassi bt David Sanchez 6-2, 6-2; Alex Corretja bt Tommy Robredo 6-1, 6-4; Jonas Bjorkman bt Harel Levy 6-1, 6-3. First round: Davide Sanguinetti bt Fabrice Santoro 1-6, 7-6(4), 6-4; Flavio Saretta bt Nicolas Kiefer 6-2, 7-5; Sargis Sargsian bt Mario Ancic 7-6(2), 2-6, 6-1; Raemon Sluiter bt Mariano Zabaleta 7-6(3), 7-6(6); Hicham Arazi bt Olivier Rochus 6-4, 6-2; Irakli Labadze bt Thierry Ascione 7-6(3), 6-4; Nicolas Escude bt Fernando Verdasco 7-6(2), 5-7, 7-5(5); Alex Bogomolov Jr. bt Jeff Salzenstein 6-2, 6-4. Women (second round): Justine Henin-Hardenne bt Samantha Reeves 6-2, 6-2; Paola Suarez bt Tatiana Golovin 1-6, 7-5, 6-2; Conchita Martinez bt Jill Craybas 6-0, 6-3; Svetlana Kuznetsova bt Alina Jidkova 4-6, 6-4, 6-1; Maria Sharapova bt Flavia Pennetta 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; Sesil Karatancheva bt Magui Serna 6-4, 2-6, 7-5; Lisa Raymond bt Lubomira Kurhajcova 4-6, 6-1, 6-3; Maria Vento-Kabchi bt Mariana Diaz-Oliva 6-3, 7-5; Marta Marrero bt Cara Black 7-6(6), 6-1; Amy Frazier bt Antonella Serra Zanetti 7-5, 6-3. — AP
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