Out of form former French world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo got off to the perfect start in search of a morale-boosting tournament win in Paris on Tuesday with an easy 6-1, 6-2 win over American qualifier Julie Ditty.
Mauresmo's chances of lifting the title for a third time improved also with the defeat of titleholder Nadia Petrova, the Russian seeded fifth going down 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 6-4 to Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine.
Mauresmo, 28 and coming off a disappointing Australian Open where she went out in the third round, took less than an hour to dispose of the 29-year-old American, who is ranked 101 in the world and whom she had not played since their junior days.
PHOTO: AFP
"I can take a lot of positives out of this victory," said Mauresmo, who has two Grand Slam titles to her name both coming in 2006 at the Aussie Open and Wimbledon.
"It's a good start, albeit against a girl who lacks energy in her game but as I have been having a hard time of it lately that I will take any sort of win," she said.
The Frenchwoman, who won the title in 2001 and 2006, will face Greece's Eleni Daniilidou in the second round.
"She [Daniilidou] is a more aggressive player than Ditty," Mauresmo said.
"I am very wary of her. It will be a hard match to play," added Mauresmo, who has given her coach Loic Courteau a week off.
Petrova put her defeat down to the in-form Bondarenko, who is ranked 43 in the world and recently won the women's doubles title with her sister Alona at the Australian Open, as a result of a lack of confidence which has seen her fail to win a tournament since landing the crown in Paris last year.
■ PATTAYA OPEN
AP, PATTAYA, THAILAND
Fifth-seed Angelique Kerber of Germany won a first round 6-3, 7-5 victory over Yuan Meng of China at the US$170,000 Pattaya Women's Open at the Dusit Resort on Tuesday.
Seventh-seed Jill Craybas of the US also pushed through to the second round, quickly eliminating Olga Savchuk of Ukraine 6-1, 6-1.
Two seeds fell by the wayside in the tournament, which was delayed a day by rain on Monday.
In an all-Russian match, Ekaterina Bychkova defeated sixth seed Yaroslava Shvedova 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-3.
Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn eliminated Russia's Anastasia Rodionova, 6-2, 6-1.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
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