Mauresmo Crashes Out In Eastbourne Debut

Posted on June 22, 2006

EASTBOURNE, UK -- World No.1 Amelie Mauresmo crashed out in her opening match on Wednesday at The Hastings Direct International Championships. After a first round bye, the top-seeded Frenchwoman lost 36 62 63 to unseeded compatriot Nathalie Dechy. This is the fifth time in the past six years an Eastbourne No.1 seed has been ousted in her opening match. After making the semifinals here in 2004, Mauresmo fell in her debut match last year.

"Same story as last year I guess, I just hope I have another good Wimbledon," said Mauresmo, who despite the opening round defeats here has still managed to reach the Wimbledon semifinals the last two years. "The conditions were tough today and I was playing a very solid opponent. I didn't serve well, or come to the net enough. It's good I'm still in the doubles here and that'll help my preparation to practice more serves, returns and volleys."

Mauresmo struggled with Dechy's wide array of first serves (74 percent) and only capitalized on two of seven break opportunities. Dechy, on the other hand, used two of three break chances in the final set to ice the victory. Dechy has now won two of her four career meetings against Mauresmo, but this time it was while her countrywoman was the world's top player.

"It's always very difficult to beat one of your best friends. We've been playing against each other since we were seven years old. I think I handled the windy conditions better than Amelie today. It was her first match on grass this year, so I was expecting she would take a bit of time to get used to the surface. She actually started stronger than me, and I was struggling with my movement, but then there was a change in momentum and I made sure I maintained that."

Eastbourne has been a successful Tour stop for Dechy. In 1999, she collected her first Top 10 win here, defeating Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. Three years ago, Dechy made the semifinals here and last year lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova after leading 5-2 in the second set. Her next opponent is No.5-seeded Anastasia Myskina, a 64 64 winner over Jill Craybas.

Defending Eastbourne champion Kim Clijsters received an easy break in her 2006 grass court opener, as newly-crowned Birmingham champion Vera Zvonareva retired due to a right Achilles strain. No.2 seed Clijsters will next face No.6 seed Francesca Schiavone, who dropped only two games against qualifier Akiko Morigami. The two have clashed 10 times over the past five years and Schiavone has never managed to pull off a victory. However, none of their encounters has taken place on grass. Clijsters has lots of points to defend here. Last year, she won her second career grass court title at this Tier II event.

No.3 seed Justine Henin-Hardenne also had an easy time in her grass court debut. The three-time Roland Garros champion defeated Kveta Peschke 62 61 and is now up against Elena Likhovtseva in the quarterfinals. The last time the two played was four years ago in Berlin and Henin-Hardenne prevailed in three sets. The Belgian withdrew from Eastbourne last year with a right hamstring strain and became the first reigning Roland Garros winner to lose in the first round of Wimbledon.

No.7 seed Anna-Lena Groenefeld eliminated Vera Dushevina 64 61 to set up a meeting with Svetlana Kuznetsova. The German is aiming for her career-first semifinal on grass. She should be confident enough because she defeated Kuznetsova earlier this year and is coming off her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at Roland Garros.
-- WTA