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.
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
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
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