Eighth-seeded Elena Dementieva beat Patty Schnyder 7-5, 6-0 on Monday to advance to the second round of the Dubai Championships.
Dementieva saved two set points in the first set and then breezed through the second after Schnyder had to take a medical time-out with a pulled right hamstring.
"I knew it would be a tough opening match against Patty, and that's how it turned out," Dementieva said. "I somehow managed to stay in the first set, and once I saved two set points and won the set, it was a good boost to my confidence. I started playing much better after that."
Dementieva will next meet Alona Bondarenko, who rallied to beat Maria Kirilenko 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Also on Monday, Dinara Safina had an easy time against wild card Selima Sfar, winning 6-1, 6-3.
■ Haas exacts revenge
AP, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE
Defending champion Tommy Haas of Germany won his opening match of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships, defeating Diego Hartfield of Argentina 6-3, 6-2 on Monday.
Haas, a three-time winner of the tournament and the No. 3 seed, served out the match after gaining his third break of the second set.
Hartfield, who defeated Haas two weeks ago in the first round of the Delray Beach International, couldn't overcome a balky backhand, and Haas concentrated on that aspect of Hartfield's game.
"It's a different ballgame when you go out there and play in front of a crowd and the nerves play a role. It's not the same as practice," Haas said.
"It was a tight match against him [at Delray Beach]. I did have my chances, I just couldn't utilize them. I was still a step too slow, and I made a lot of unforced errors. [Monday] was different, and it was a great chance to redeem yourself right away," he said.
Earlier, second-seeded James Blake withdrew with a right knee problem that has bothered him for the past few weeks. Blake, who also withdrew from last year's tournament, said he didn't believe he could play a competitive match and plans to rest for the next week or two.
Seventh-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria was taken to three sets before defeating the US' John Isner, who was fighting the flu, 6-7 (8), 6-3, 7-6 (4).
Top-seeded Andy Roddick, coming off his win on Sunday at San Jose, will play his first match today.
In the women's Cellular South Cup, fifth-seeded Olga Govortsova of Belarus defeated Mashona Washington of the US 6-4, 6-2.
Fourth-seeded Lindsay Davenport won 7-5, 6-3 over qualifier Sabine Lisicki of Germany. Like Haas, it was a bit of revenge.
Lisicki defeated Davenport 6-1, 7-5 this month when the US defeated Germany in the first round of the Fed Cup.
■ PENNETTA ADVANCES
AP, ACAPULCO, MEXICO
Italy's Flavia Pennetta defeated Russian Ekaterina Bychkova 6-4, 6-1 to begin another run at the Abierto Mexicano title on Monday.
The top-seeded Pennetta has reached the final four times and won in 2005.
Pennetta won her fifth career title at the first stop on the Latin American claycourt swing in Vina del Mar, Chile, then was surprisingly beaten in the first round last week at Bogota, Colombia.
Mexican wild card Melissa Torres Sandoval came from behind to defeat Italy's Maria Elena Camerin 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 in a two-and-a-half-hour match.
US player Jill Craybas easily defeated Paraguay's Rossana de los Rios 6-2, 6-2, Spain's Lourdes Dominguez Lino dispatched Japan's Rika Fujiwara 7-5, 6-3 and Germany's Julia Schruff held off Hungarian Greta Arn 6-2, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (5).
On the men's side, third-seeded Juan Monaco rallied to beat fellow Argentine Juan Pablo Brzezicki 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
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
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘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
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
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