Mauresmo, Clijsters Into 3rd Round at WTA Indian Wells

Posted on March 12, 2005

Two former No. 1s led the winners Friday at the WTA stop in Indian Wells, avoiding the slew of upsets as seven seeded players were ousted in the desert heat.

No. 2 seed Amelie Mauresmo, seeking her second title of the year, opened with a 6-2, 6-1 performance over Italy's Tatiana Garbin.

"I have some trouble being healthy at this time of the season in the past," Mauresmo said earlier in the week. "I'm feeling good physically. I think my game is really coming together on this surface to hopefully go pretty far in the tournament. There are parts of my game that still need to be worked on technically, tactically."

Unseeded former No. 1 Kim Clijsters continued her strong form in her return from wrist surgery, ousting No. 16 seed Shinobu Asagoe 6-3, 6-3. Indian Wells is the second tournament of 2005 for the Belgian, who lost to Venus Williams in her return a few weeks back in the quarterfinals at Antwerp.

"I feel like I'm hitting well and maybe a little bit more under control than before I got injured," Clijsters said.

Six other seeds were losers in their opening-round matches in (8) Elena Bovina (l. to countrywoman (Q) Kirilenko), (9) Francesca Schiavone (l. to Japan's (Q) Fujiwara), doubles specialist (12) Paola Suarez (l. to (WC) Jamea "Action" Jackson), (18) Jelena Jankovic (l. to the Russian Chakvetadze), (21) Gisela "Sgt." Dulko (l. to Argentine countrywoman Diaz-Oliva in three), and (26) Anna-Lena Groenefeld (l. to the Frenchwoman Beltrame).

Other seeded winners in second-round play Friday were (4) Elena Dementieva (d. Spears), (5) Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. (Q) Birnerova), (14) Tatiana "Hot Pants" Golovin (d. Fedak), former IW champ (23) Conchita Martinez (d. Randriantefy), (24) Iveta Benesova (d. Llagostera "Pancho" Vives), (28) Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues (d. Domachowska), (30) Evgenia Linetskaya (d. Granville), and (32) Maria Vento-Kabchi (d. (Q) Talaja in three).

"I still feel like I need more matches to get in," said the confidence-challenged Kuznetsova. "I feel like I need to play more singles to get my good shape because I don't feel like I'm on the top of my game now."

On court Saturday is a star-studded line-up featuring (3) Maria "Grunt-o-rama" Sharapova vs. (WC) Haynes, (1) Davenport vs. (WC) Karatantcheva, Anne "Kosmo" Kremer vs. (13) Hantuchova, (Q) Uberoi vs. (27) Shaughnessy, Loit vs. (7) Dechy in an all-French, (Q) Ant. Serra "Nevada" Zanetti vs. (6) Petrova, Lee-Waters vs. (25) Safina, (11) Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem vs. Vaidisova, Cervanova vs. (20) Pierce, (29) Stosur vs. Cho, (WC) Kutuzova vs. (15) Pennetta, (17) Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier vs. (WC) Daja "Caught" Bedanova, (31) Raymond vs. (LL) Bondarenko, (10) Likhovtseva vs. Craybas, (WC) Jessica "Captain" Kirkland vs. (22) Bartoli, and (19) Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga vs. Sanchez Lorenzo.