The Hindu : Sport : Safin, Berdych knocked out; Sania through

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Thursday, May 31, 2007
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Safin, Berdych knocked out; Sania through

Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal advance ;to round two without too much trouble

PARIS: Top-seed and defending champion Justine Henin saw off a spirited challenge from the youngest player in the women's draw on Wednesday to move closer to her dream of winning a third straight French Open crown.

The Belgian, seeking to emulate Monica Seles, the last woman to achieve a Roland Garros hat-trick in 1992, looked to be coasting through her second round tie when she sped out to a 5-0 lead over 16-year-old Austrian prodigy Tamira Paszek.

But she was stunned as the youngster staged a brave comeback to level at 5-5 and almost forced a tie-break before Henin regained the initiative.

Having pocketed the opening set, the Belgian then made her class and experience tell by dominating the third set for a 7-5, 6-1 win setting up a third round tie against Mara Santangelo of Italy.

Second seed Maria Sharapova of Russia saw off the challenge of France's Emilie Loit 6-3, 7-6(4) in 1 hour 50 minutes but admitted afterwards that the shoulder injury that kept her on the sidelines for two months until last week was still bothering her.

There were straight set wins also for Sharapova's third seeded compatriot and last year's beaten finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova who cruised past another Russian Ekaterina Bychkova 6-0, 6-3 and for rising Serbian youngster and seventh seed Ana Ivanovic who blasted past Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson 6-2, 6-0.

Amelie Mauresmo gave the Parisian crowd something to cheer following the defeat of French men's No.1 Richard Gasquet when she eliminated Laura Granville of the United States 6-0, 7-5.

Sania wins opener

Sania Mirza recorded her maiden singles win at Roland Garros beating Italian Alberta Branti in the first round here on Wednesday.

The 20-year-old Indian, who had stumbled at the first hurdle in her earlier two attempts, thrashed Branti 6-1, 6-1 to storm into the second round.

Sania saved two breakpoints in the opening game but that was the only time she found herself in trouble in the match that lasted only 54 minutes. She next faces Serbia's Ana Ivanovic who beat Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden 6-2 6-0.

In the men's championships it was the end of the road for former world No.1 Marat Safin of Russia who lost in straight sets to Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia and 10th seed Tomas Berdych who fell to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain.

Frustration

"Unfortunately it wasn't really the match that I should have lost," the 22nd seeded Safin said. "I was frustrated with the fact that nothing came together."

No. 10 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic lost to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.

But sixth seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia cruised past Santiago Giraldo of Colombia in straight sets in a first round match held over from Tuesday as did dangerous outsider Guillermo Canas of Argentina in a second round match against Simon Bolelli of Italy.

On Tuesday, Rafael Nadal began his quest for a rare French Open treble with a 7-5 6-3 6-2 victory over former sparring partner Juan Martin Del Potro.

"The first round is always difficult," said Nadal, who made uncharacteristic unforced errors at first but improved on a dry afternoon with sunny spells. "You need time to get used to the court and the conditions," he added. — Agencies

IMPORTANT RESULTS

Prefix denotes seeding: Second round: 10-Dinara Sa- fina (Rus) bt Tzipora Obziler (Isr) 6-1, 6-0; 13-Elena Dementieva (Rus) bt Mathilde Johansson (Fra) 7-5, 7-5; 20-Sybille Bammer (Aut) bt Olga Savchuk (Ukr) 6-0, 6-3; 28-Mara Santangelo (Ita) bt Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) 6-3, 6-2; 26-Venus Williams (USA) bt Ashley Harkleroad (USA) 6-1, 7-6 (8); 19-Tathiana Garbin (Ita) bt Nuria Llagostera Vives (Esp) 6-4, 6-3. First round: Women: 2-Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Emilie Loit (Fra) 6-3, 7-6(4); 3-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Ekaterina Bychkova (Rus) 6-0, 6-3; 5-Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) bt Laura Granville (USA) 6-0, 7-5; 7-Ana Ivanovic (Ser) bt Sofia Arvidsson (Swe) 6-2, 6-0; 9-Anna Chakvetadze (Rus) bt Alicia Molik (Aus) 6-2, 6-3; 12-Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) bt Jelena Kostanic Tosic (Cro) 6-3, 6-1; 14-Patty Schnyder (Sui) bt Martina Sucha (Svk) 2-6, 6-1, 6-2; 15-Shahar Peer (Isr) bt Kaia Kanepi (Est) 6-1, 6-3; Meghann Shaughnessy (USA) bt Anastasia Myskina (Rus) 6-1, 6-0; 21-Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) bt Eva Birnerova (Cze) 6-3, 6-4; Sania Mirza (Ind) bt Alberta Brianti (Ita) 6-1, 6-1; Nicole Pratt (Aus) bt Flavia Pennetta (Ita) 7-6(3), 6-2; 25-Lucie Safarova (Cze) bt Yulia Beygelzimer (Ukr) 6-4, 6-3; Men: Second round: 9-Tommy Robredo (Esp) bt Konstantinos Economidis (Gre) 6-4, 7-5, 6-4; Kristof Vliegen (Bel) bt 11-Richard Gasquet (Fra) 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-1; 13-Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) bt Nicola Lapentti (Ecu) 6-3, 6-0, 6-4; 19- Guillermo Canas (Arg) bt Simone Bolelli (Ita) 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. Janko Tipsarevic (Ser) bt 22-Marat Safin (Rus) 6-4, 6-4, 7-5;

First round: Mariano Zabaleta (Arg) bt 26-Agustin Calleri (Arg) 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5; Ivo Karlovic (Cro) bt 8-James Blake (USA) 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5; 2-Rafael Nadal (ESP) bt Juan Martin del Potro (Arg) 7-5, 6-3, 6-2; Bohdan Ulihrach (Cze) bt 24-Dominik Hrbaty (Svk) 6-2, 5-7, 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-3; Gaston Gaudio (Arg) bt Marc Gicquel (Fra) 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3; Radek Stepanek (Cze) bt 5-Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) 6-2, 6-2, 6-4; Ernests Gulbis (Lat) bt Tim Henman (Gbr) 6-4, 6-3, 6-2; 16- Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) bt Sebastien Grosjean (Fra) 6-3, 6-2, 6-4; 15-David Nalbandian (Arg) bt Lee Hyung-Taik (Kor) 6-2, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3; Gael Monfils (Fra) bt Olivier Rochus (Bel) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1; 14-Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) bt Max Mirnyi (Blr) 6-3, 6-1, 6-3; Igor Andreev (Rus) bt 3-Andy Roddick (USA) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4; 17-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Esp) bt Amer Delic (USA) 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-3, 6-4; 21-Dmitry Tursunov (Rus) bt Alessio di Mauro (Ita) 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; 6-Novak Djokovic (Ser) bt Santiago Giraldo (Col) 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-4; Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Esp) bt 10-Tomas Berdych (Cze) 7-5, 6-4, 6-4; 12-David Ferrer (Esp) bt Daniele Bracciali (Ita) 6-1, 6-1, 6-2; Carlos Moya (Esp) bt Andreas Seppi (Ita) 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-0.

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