The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Serena marches on

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 09, 2004

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Serena marches on

AMELIA ISLAND, APRIL 8. Serena Williams needed just over an hour on Wednesday to beat Mary Pierce 6-3, 6-1, in a second-round match at the Bausch & Lomb Championships.

Williams, winner of last week's Nasdaq-100 Open on the hardcourts at Key Biscayne, Florida, broke Pierce in the opening game of the match and again in the ninth game. Pierce saved two set points in that game, but couldn't reach Williams' forehand down the baseline to close out the set.

"I think I was a little gone and she was hitting a lot of winners and I didn't play as well as I could," Williams said. "By that I mean I wasn't focused as I would like to be. But I think my next round, I'll be able to pick it up."

Williams took the first three games and last three of the second set to close out her fourth win in five meetings with Pierce, who has not won on the WTA Tour since the 2000 French Open and has fallen to No. 29 in the rankings.

"I feel like I still have a lot of room for improvement and I think today's match showed me that," Pierce said. The No. 2 ranked Williams won her first match at this event, having lost her only other match when she competed in 2000.

Her chances of winning got a little easier earlier in the day when defending champion Elena Dementieva withdrew due to a right hip strain.

Dementieva dropped the first set of her second-round match to unseeded Jelena Kostanic of Croatia in a tie-breaker. She received medical assistance in between the first and second sets. When she lost her serve to start the second set, she retired.

Dementieva indicated she first hurt her hip a week before in Key Biscayne, where she lost the final to Williams.

"It was too painful today on the court and it was getting worse during the match," Dementieva said. "I knew I had to stop because I couldn't finish the match. It's very tough to win on clay courts because you have to run."

Dementieva is ranked No. 8 and was the fifth seed at this year's event.

Most of the other top seeds had the day off. The exception was No. 3 Amelie Mauresmo, who breezed 6-0, 6-3 over Akiko Morigami of Japan.

Two seeds were upset. No. 13 Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi of Israel lost 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1) to Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic while No. 15 Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria lost , 6-2, 6-4 to Karolina Sprem of Croatia.

Loit stays on course

Top-seeded Emilie Loit of France beat Silvija Talaja of Croatia 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 in the second round of the US$110,000 Grand Prix SAR.

Eighth-seeded Maria Elena Camerin of Italy also advanced, downing Conchita Martinez Granados of Spain 6-3, 7-5.

In other matches, Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic bteated Stephanie Cohen Aloro of France 6-3, 6-4 and Marta Marrero of Spain crushed Zsofia Gubacsi of Hungary 6-2, 6-1.

The results: At Amelia Island (Second round): Nadia Petrova bt Milagros Sequera 6-1, 6-0;

Silvia Farina Elia bt Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-1, 6-1; Alicia Molik bt Arantxa Parra 6-3, 6-4; Jelena Kostanic bt Elena Dementieva 7-6 (7-5), 1-0 (retired); Karolina Sprem bt Magdalena Maleeva 6-2, 6-4; Barbora Strycova bt Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1); Amelie Mauresmo bt Akiko Morigami 6-0, 6-3; Conchita Martinez bt Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-4; Paola Suarez bt Shinobu Asagoe 6-4, 6-3; Petra Mandula bt Amy Frazier 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (7-3); Serena Williams bt Mary Pierce 6-3, 6-1; Ai Sugiyama bt Catalina Castano 7-5, 6-4.

At Casablanca (Second round): Klara Koukalova bt Stephanie Cohen Aloro 6-3, 6-4; Marta Marrero bt Zsofia Gubacsi 6-2, 6-1; Emilie Loit bt Silvija Talaja 6-2, 5-7, 6-4; Maria Elena Camerin bt Conchita Martinez Granados 6-3, 7-5.

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