The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Ivanovic ousts Mauresmo

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 11, 2006

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Sport - Tennis

Ivanovic ousts Mauresmo

SYDNEY: Second-seeded Amelie Mauresmo was bundled out of the Sydney International on Tuesday, losing to Ana Ivanovic of Serbia-Montenegro 3-6, 5-7.

Mauresmo, playing her first match since winning the season-ending WTA championship and finishing 2005 in the top three for the second consecutive season, struggled with her serve. It was her second loss to rising star Ivanovic, following a third-round upset at the French Open last year.

Ivanovic, who finished last season at No. 16 in the rankings, put everything into her groundstrokes and had Mauresmo on the defensive.

With Mauresmo serving to stay in the match for a second time at 5-6, Ivanovic ripped a forehand return winner and a forehand crosscourt winner off consecutive points to set up two match points. Mauresmo saved one, but dumped a forehand into the net.

Belgians Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne advanced in straight sets to the quarterfinals. Top-seeded Clijsters, figuring in her first encounter in Australia since breaking her engagement with Lleyton Hewitt in 2004, was a 6-3, 6-1 winner over China's Li Na in 53 minutes.

Fifth-seeded Henin-Hardenne, who put Martina Hingis' comeback into perspective on Monday, recorded a 6-2, 6-2 second-round victory over Vera Dushevina of Russia. Clijsters, dubbed ``Aussie Kim'' by the crowds during her relationship with Australian star Hewitt, doesn't appear to have lost any of her following among the Sydney crowd.

Since the break up with Clijsters, Hewitt has married Australian actress Rebecca Cartwright and the couple had a daughter, Mia, last month.

Paes-Damm through

Indian ace Leander Paes and his Czech partner Martin Damm cruised into the second round of the men's doubles event with a 6-1, 6-4 win against Augustin Calleri of Argentina and Spaniard Tommy Robredo.

The Indo-Czech pair will now face top seeds Mike and Bob Bryan in the second round of the event.

Good start for Gonzalez

At Auckland, defending champion and top-seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile advanced to the second round of the Heineken Open with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Peruvian qualifier Luis Horna on Tuesday.

Second-seeded David Ferrer of Spain also made it to the next round, beating Federico Luzzi of Italy 7-5, 6-2, but third-seeded American Robby Ginepri lost in three sets to Spain's Alberto Martin 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-2.

Nieminen beats Baghdatis

Seventh-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland beat former top junior Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-2, 6-2, taking only 51 minutes to book his place in the second round.

The results:

At Sydney (Medibank International): Men (first round): Igor Andreev bt Richard Gasquet 6-2, 6-4; Dmitry Tursunov bt Tommy Robredo 7-6(4), 6-3; Juan Monaco bt Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-2; Florent Serra bt Fabrice Santoro 5-7, 6-2, 6-4; Paradorn Srichaphan bt Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-4; Peter Luczak bt Xavier Malisse 7-6(5), 7-6(3); Andreas Seppi bt Kristof Vliegen 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-3; Carlos Moya bt Sebastien Grosjean 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(4).

Women (second round): Kim Clijsters bt Li Na 6-3, 6-1; Svetlana Kuznetsova bt Dinara Safina 6-3, retd.; Justine Henin-Hardenne bt Vera Dushevina 6-2, 6-2; Ana Ivanovic bt Amelie Mauresmo 6-3, 7-5; Nicole Vaidisova bt Yuliana Fedak 6-3, 6-3; Francesca Schiavone bt Zi Yan 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-1; Daniela Hantuchova bt Patty Schnyder 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

At Auckland (ATP Heineken Open): First round: Jarkko Nieminen bt Marcos Baghdatis 6-2, 6-2; Alberto Martin bt Robby Ginepri 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-2; Fernando Gonzalez bt Luis Horna 6-3, 6-4; Olivier Rochus bt Albert Montanes 6-2, 6-4; Raemon Sluiter bt Daniele Bracciali 6-3, 6-4; David Ferrer bt Federico Luzzi 7-5, 6-2; Christophe Rochus bt Jose Acasuso 6-4, 6-4; Jan Hernych bt Andrei Pavel 6-1, 6-2; Paul Goldstein bt Filippo Volandri 6-0, 3-1, retd.; Ivo Minar bt Wesley Moodie 2-1, retd.

At Canberra (WTA Canberra International): Second round: Anabel Medina Garrigues bt Tatiana Poutchek 6-0, 6-1; Aiko Nakamura bt Roberta Vinci 7-5, 6-0; Shahar Peer bt Eleni Daniilidou 7-6(0), 6-2; Cho Yoon-jeong bt Emma Laine 6-4, 6-4; Catalina Castano bt Tathiana Garbin 7-6(4), 7-5; Melinda Czink bt Virginie Razzano 5-7, 7-5, 6-3; Julia Schruff bt Yvonne Meusburger 6-7(0), 6-4, 6-1.

At Hobart (WTA Tasmanian International): Second round: Michaella Krajicek bt Stephanie Foretz 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; Iveta Benesova bt Mashona Washington 6-2, 3-6, 6-2; Jelena Kostanic bt Nuria Llagostera Vives 6-3, 5-7, 6-4; Mara Santangelo bt Anne Kremer 7-5, 6-1; Jill Craybas bt Severine Bremond 4-6, 6-2, 6-2; Laura Granville bt Jamea Jackson 2-6, 7-5, 6-3. — Agencies

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