China's Peng Shuai (
Peng was joined in the last 16 by Slovenian seventh seed Katarina Srebotnik, the only ranked player in action on the opening day, who recorded a routine 6-3, 6-4 victory over Russia's Olga Poutchkova.
The 21-year-old Peng played corner-to-corner against the taller Bovina, frequently wrong-footing her opponent into errors with an intelligent and aggressive game honed by her new coach, former world No. 2 Michael Chang (張德培).
PHOTO: AFP
"It's just a good way to start," Peng told reporters. "She hits hard, so I tried to hit hard first. She is a big girl, so I tried to move the ball around."
At world No. 62, Peng is China's second-ranked player and is making a comeback after suffering a serious ankle injury in early May.
"I'm feeling much better," she said. "I'm trying to learn what my real game is and Michael is helping me with that. He was a real fighter and I would like to be like that, too."
PHOTO: AFP
Srebotnik was upset in the first round of two previous tournaments in which she was seeded eighth or higher. The 25th-ranked Srebotnik reached the third round of all three Grand Slam events this year. Poutchkova lost her fifth straight.
Eleni Daniilidou of Greece outlasted Amber Liu of the US 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, in a later match that lasted more than two hours.
"Amber was getting a little tired and I was way more aggressive than her beginning in the second set," the 41st-ranked Daniilidou said. "I really couldn't see in the first set; there were shadows on the court."
Daniilidou plays top-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze in the second round tomorrow.
In other matches, Meilen Tu of the US beat Meghann Shaughnessy, 7-6 (3), 6-1 to reach the second round for the 11th time in 13 tournaments, and Lilia Osterloh beat fellow US player Jill Craybas 6-2, 7-5.
Osterloh advances to meet second-seeded Marion Bartoli, while Peng meets third-seeded Daniela Hantuchova.
Davydenko makes early exit
Gilles Simon of France held on to upset world No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 in their Croatia Open first-round match on Monday.
Simon led 5-0 in the final set, but Davydenko saved four match points to rally to 5-3. The Russian had eight break points in the next game, but Simon held serve for the best win of his career.
It was Davydenko's third defeat in a row in the first round in as many weeks.
Top-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia scored his 100th victory by beating qualifier Pablo Andujar of Spain 6-1, 6-3 in his first match on clay since the French Open semi-finals.
In the second round, Djokovic -- who retired with a finger blister in the semi-finals at Wimbledon -- will meet either Viktor Troicki of Serbia or Predrag Rusevski of Macedonia.
Also moving to the second round were Carlos Berlocq of Argentina, defeating countryman Maximo Gonzalez 6-3, 6-4; Marin Cilic of Croatia, who beat Mathieu Montcourt of France 3-6, 6-4, 6-1; Pere Riba of Spain, defeating Luka Belic of Croatia 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, and Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain, who defeated Gaston Gaudio of Argentina 6-0, 6-4.
Querrey snaps losing streak
Struggling US player Sam Querrey snapped a seven-match losing streak here on Monday on the opening day of the US$525,000 ATP Indianapolis Championships.
The 91st-ranked Californian thrashed 60th-ranked Frenchman Julien Benneteau 7-6 (8/6), 6-1 in just under 90 minutes for his first victory on clay since April 29.
Querrey was desperate to turn his luck after losing to top-10 stars Tommy Haas and James Blake during his sad spring but crashed out against qualifiers in the first round of the French Open and Wimbledon.
Russian teen Evgueni Korolev put out the US' Justin Gimelstob 6-2, 6-4.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
RSS