The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Schnyder struggles to beat Osterloh

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 19, 2006

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Sport - Tennis

Schnyder struggles to beat Osterloh

CINCINNATI: Top seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland opened the defence of her Cincinnati Open crown with a shaky 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(1) win over American Lilia Osterloh here on Monday.

The Swiss trailed 1-4 in the third set and faced a match point before prevailing in the tie-breaker 7-1.

Osterloh opened her U.S. hard court season in blistering style by breaking the World No. 8 twice in the first set. But Schnyder, who has not won a title since her victory a year ago here, dominated the 108th-ranked American in the second to level the contest. In the decider, she kept her cool to reach the second round.

In the other matches, fourth seed Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia was handed a walkover when Hungary's Melinda Czink opted out with a shoulder strain, while Finland's Emma Laine breezed past Austria's Sybille Bammer 6-3, 6-1. Amy Frazier won an all-American showdown with wildcard Jessica Kirkland 6-3, 6-4.

Former World No. 1 Serena Williams makes her long awaited return following a lengthy injury lay-off. Sidelined since the Australian Open with an injured left knee, the seven-time Grand Slam winner faces a stern test in the first round against second-seeded Russian and 2004 French Open champion Anastasia Myskina.

Comfortable win

In the doubles event, Sania Mirza and her Polish partner Marta Domachowska entered the second round with a facile 6-4, 6-3 win over the South Africa-Venezuela duo of Natalie Grandin and Milagros Sequera.

The Indian teen and her Polish partner capitalised on the mistakes committed by their opponents, breaking them thrice before clinching the first set.

The second also took little effort from Sania and Marta, as they smashed 35 winners on their way to a second round berth.

Udomchoke beats Cakl

In the RCA Championships at Indianapolis, Danai Udomchoke of Thailand beat Tomas Cakl of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-2 to set up a second-round clash with top-seeded James Blake.

Udomchoke broke Cakl four times and saved all three break points he faced.

The results:

At Cincinnati (WTA Cincinnati Open): First round: Emma Laine bt Sybille Bammer 6-3, 6-1; Patty Schnyder bt Lilia Osterloh 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(1); Amy Frazier bt Jessica Kirkland 6-3, 6-4.

At Indianapolis (RCA Championships): First round: Jeff Morrison bt Santiago Gonzalez 6-2, 6-2; Alejandro Falla bt Jean-Christophe Faurel 6-4, 6-2; Danai Udomchoke bt Tomas Cakl 6-2, 6-2; Sam Querrey bt Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-4; Paul Capdeville bt Tomas Behrend 6-2, 6-0; Razvan Sabau bt Lu Yen-hsun 6-3, 6-4; Ricardo Mello bt Jean-Rene Lisnard 7-5, 7-5; Ramon Delgado bt Amer Delic 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(5).

At Stuttgart (ATP Mercedes Cup): First round: Hugo Armando bt Dieter Kindlmann 6-4, 6-3; Florian Mayer bt Andreas Beck 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; Albert Portas bt Flavio Saretta 5-7, 6-3, 6-3; Andreas Seppi bt Dick Norman 7-6(6), 6-4; Stanislas Wawrinka bt Lukas Dlouhy 6-7(1), 6-3, 6-4.

Juan Monaco bt Michael Berrer 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-4; Juan Martin Del Potro bt Andrei Pavel 3-6, 6-2, 6-2; Teimuraz Gabashvili bt Jiri Vanek 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

At Amersfoot (Priority Telecom Open): First round: Daniele Bracciali bt Igor Sijsling 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2; Novak Djokovic bt Boris Pashanski 6-0, 6-3; Eduardo Massa bt Ivo Minar 6-4, 6-3; Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo bt Carlos Berlocq 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3. Sergio Roitman bt Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-1; Tomas Zib bt Steve Darcis 7-5, 6-3.

At Palermo (WTA Palermo International): First round: Michaella Krajicek bt Emmanuelle Gagliardi 6-1, 6-7(3), 7-5; Klara Koukalova bt Stephanie Foretz 6-4, 6-2; Tathiana Garbin bt Alice Canepa 6-2, 6-1; Anna Smashnova bt Yuliana Fedak 6-3, 6-2. — Agencies

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