The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Vento makes Henin struggle for a win

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 29, 2005

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Sport - Tennis

Vento makes Henin struggle for a win

Davydenko dethroned by Sluiter in BMW Open

WARSAW: A confident Ana Ivanovic scored an upset victory over third-seeded Vera Zvonareva on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the J&S Cup.

The 17-year old underlined the potential she has shown in recent months by beating her 10th-ranked Russian opponent 6-2, 6-4.

Unseeded Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne struggled in cold and heavy conditions following early morning rain, but overcame Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela 6-3, 7-5.

Henin-Hardenne admitted to a loss of concentration as she battled to avoid being taken to a third set by the resourceful Vento-Kabchi. The Venezuelan struck the ball firmly, and found some sharp angles to stretch her opponent wide. After six of the first seven games of the second set went against serve, Henin-Hardenne broke for 6-5 when she forced a backhand error. But she still needed to hold off three break points before closing out the match with a service winner.

At Munich, Raemon Sluiter ended Nikolay Davydenko's bid for back-to-back BMW Open titles, defeating the defending champion 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 in the second round on Thursday.

The results:

At Oeiras (Estoril Open):

Men: Second round: Juan Antonio Marin bt Agustin Calleri 6-4, 3-1 (retd.); Guillermo Garcia-Lopez bt Joachim Johansson 6-2, 6-4; Gaston Gaudio bt Michal Tabara 6-2, 6-1; Feliciano Lopez bt Albert Montanes 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4; Tommy Robredo bt Santiago Ventura 7-5, 6-0.

First round: Albert Costa bt Nicolas Massu 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Women: Second round: Na Li bt Nicole Pratt 7-5, 6-1; Jie Zheng bt Martina Muller 6-3, 6-4; Dally Randriantefy bt Maria Sanchez Lorenzo 4-6, 6-0, 6-2; Gisela Dulko bt Alyona Bondarenko 6-2, 6-3; Dinara Safina bt Katerina Bondarenko 6-2, 6-2; Jill Craybas bt Ludmila Cervanova 6-4, 6-1; Mariana Diaz-Oliva bt Olga Savchuk 6-2, 6-3.

First round: Dinara Safina bt Claudine Schaul 6-2, 6-1.

At Warsaw (J&S Cup): Second round: Elena Bovina bt Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 4-6, 6-3; Svetlana Kuznetsova bt Anna Smashnova 6-2, 4-6, 6-0; Silvia Farina Elia bt Zuzana Ondraskova 6-1, 6-2; Kim Clijsters bt Maria Kirilenko 6-2, 6-1; Ana Ivanovic bt Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-4; Justine Henin-Hardenne bt Maria Vento-Kabchi 6-3, 7-5.

At Munich (BMW Open): Second round: Andrei Pavel bt Sjeng Schalken 6-1, 1-6, 6-1; Raemon Sluiter bt Nikolay Davydenko 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. — Agencies

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