Hingis Advances; Henin Out Until End of Year?
Posted on September 19, 2006
Injury-wary Jankovic Wins Opener at BeijingBEIJING, China -- Jelena Jankovic showed no signs of fatigue in her 2006 China Open debut. The 21-year-old Serbian, who had an outstanding summer on American hardcourts, showed no mercy on Monday, crushing Lourdes Dominguez Lino, 60 61, at Beijing Tennis Centre.
"I played really well," Jankovic said. "The first round is always tough for me because you've got to get used to the court and the conditions. I'm happy about the way I played."
This summer, Jankovic collected 10 US Open Series victories. She reached her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles final of the year in Los Angeles and followed up with a breakthrough week at the US Open. En route to her first ever Grand Slam semifinal, she upset Top 10 stars Nicole Vaidisova, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva before falling to Justine Henin-Hardenne in three sets. Jankovic, who managed to turn her year around after a 10-match losing streak, is playing either Anabel Medina Garrigues or Marion Bartoli in the second round.
Jankovic was scheduled to play Bali last week but withdrew due to a low back strain.
"I don't have any expectations (here)," Jankovic said. "I'll try to play the best I can. I practiced so much lately, since my back was injured after the US Open, so I had a few days off. I really enjoy my time here and I'll see how far I can go."
Other Monday winners were Elena Vesnina, Sun Tiantian and Peng Shuai. Vesnina survived a 76(0) 57 63 battle against Emma Laine, while Chinese wild cards Sun and Peng also needed three sets. Beijing resident Sun, who managed an impressive victory over Serena Williams here last year on the way to the quarterfinals, beat Vera Zvonareva, 64 16 62. Peng ousted Catalina Castano, 46 75 63.
Eleni Daniilidou, Alicia Molik, Vera Dushevina and Jelena Kostanic won their qualifying matches to save a spot in the main draw.
On Tuesday, defending champion Maria Kirilenko takes on Gisela Dulko and Chinese ace Li Na faces Dushevina.
-- WTA
Hingis Breezes in Opener in India
KOLKATA, India -- Top seed Martina Hingis needed only 44 minutes to cruise past Melinda Czink, 61 62, Monday at the Sunfeast Open 2006. The Swiss star looked sharp in her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event in India.
"I felt fantastic out there," Hingis said. "When it goes great like that you have to be happy. I'm excited to be here in India and want to play well for the fans. It's nice to get a quick match and get rest for the next one."
The former world No.1 will next play Israel's Tzipora Obziler, who ousted Yulia Beygelzimer, 62 63. After a disappointing second round exit at the US Open, Hingis is eager to make a good impression here to inch closer to her goal of being one of eight qualifiers for the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid. Hingis is in sixth place with 1719 points behind Svetlana Kuznetsova and Kim Clijsters. Justine Henin-Hardenne, Amé©e Mauresmo and Maria Sharapova already qualified for the prestigious event in November.
No.4 seed Aravane Rezai defeated Ankita Bhambri, 62 76(3), to set up a second round meeting with Tatiana Poutchek. Rezai just made her career breakthrough at the US Open by reaching her first Grand Slam fourth round. The Frenchwoman upset Top 20 players Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Maria Kirilenko en route.
Tamarine Tanasugarn, Poutchek and Abigail Spears also won on Monday. Tanasugarn upset No.6 seed Kaia Kanpei, 67(10) 75 60; Poutchek eliminated Anne Keothavong, 62 67(5) 63, and Spears ousted Akgul Amanmuradova, 63 64.
Sunfeast Open 2006 fans will be treated to an all-Indian duel Tuesday night between qualifier Rushmi Chakravarthi and No.5 seed Sania Mirza. No.2 seed Karolina Sprem plays Casey Dellacqua and No.3 Yuliana Fedak faces Alberta Brianti.
-- WTA
Bammer Bammed at WTA Portoroz
PORTOROZ, Slovenia -- The $145,000 Banka Koper Slovenia Open kicked off in Portoroz Monday, and it didn't take that long for the first seed to fall. Austria's Sybille Bammer, the No.3 seed at the Tier IV event, took the dubious honor of becoming the week's first upset victim, falling in three sets to unseeded Czech Iveta Benesova.
Bammer, who has been making inroads into the Top 50 in recent months after posting several solid results this season, including her very first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour semifinal at Pattaya City and a third round finish at Wimbledon, fought hard against Benesova, but in the end it was not enough, as the mother-on-Tour fell, 64 36 63. It was her first loss to Benesova in three meetings, having won their two prior meetings, at Cincinnati last season and at Charleston this season, in straight sets.
Benesova, a former Top 50 player herself, has had an up-and-down season, and comes into this week ranked No.74 in the world. She was impressive during the Australian swing in January, winning seven of 10 matches in reaching the Hobart final and the Australian Open third round, even notching her first career Top 5 win in Melbourne against Mary Pierce, in the second round. But since falling in two sets to Martina Hingis in the third round, she has not won consecutive matches in 17 Tour events, a slump that includes an 0-3 mark during the summer hardcourt season. But clearly, the young Czech is looking to turn her season around.
Other players who looked solid in their openers were Bulgarian teen Tsvetana Pironkova, a 61 61 winner over Croatian phenom Sanja Ancic; and Estonia's Maret Ani, who toughed out a 64 76(3) victory over Frenchwoman Camille Pin.
The remaining 13 opening round matches are all on tap for Tuesday, including top-seeded Slovenian star Katarina Srebotnik, who takes on Martina Sucha.
This is the second staging of the Tier IV Banka Koper Slovenia Open. One year ago, Klara Koukalova (now Klara Zakopalova) prevailed over Srebotnik in three sets in the championship singles final.
-- WTA
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Sania Mirza on her celebrity in India: "I have to measure every word I utter. An if to but from my lips can create a national crisis. In whatever I do, I have to be careful."...Sergi Bruguera will make his debut on the Outback Champions Tour this week in Charlotte, NC, replacing Petr Korda who withdrew with illness: "Sergi is without question one of the greatest claycourt players in the last 20 years so he is naturally an instant favorite to win on the clay in Charlotte," said tour organizer Jim Courier. "He and I played two great claycourt matches at the French Open -- in the finals in 1993 and in the semifinals in 1994 -- and unfortunately he got the best of me both times, so needless to say, I am looking for a little payback."...From Dale Robertson of the Houston Chronicle: "The numbers don't lie. Roger Federer has enjoyed the best three-year run of the Open era. Statistically, it's easy to build a case for him as the most dominant player of the almost four decades since the pros were first embraced by the tennis establishment. Just five times in 39 years have players won three of the four Slams in the same year. (Rod Laver, of course, won all four in 1969.) Federer has done it twice in three years while becoming the first man since Laver to reach each of the four finals. And, short of his forgetting how to play, on Feb. 26, 2007, he will break Jimmy Connors' record for most consecutive weeks at No. 1. It would be the Swiss' 161st in a row. But does all this make him the greatest? Federer could be."...Jimmy Arias will make his Outback Champions Series debut in the senior circuit's fifth and final event, the Stanford Financial Cup at River Oaks Nov. 8-12. Arias replaces 1986 French Open runner-up Mikael Pernfors, who won't play anymore this year because of an Achilles' tendon injury."...From The Mirror: "Isabelle Lendl, the 15-year-old daughter of Czech tennis legend Ivan, will tee up for the United States in the Junior Ryder Cup starting today. Each teenage team has 12 players -- six boys and six girls -- at Celtic Manor in Newport over the two-day event. US-born Isabelle, who is the No.5 ranked junior player in America, has inherited her father's hand-eye co-ordination. And she also has a better record on grass! She said: "I started to play golf when I was eight years old. At that time I was playing tennis competitively and golf for fun. Then, when I was 10, I switched over to competitive golf and tennis for fun. I later dropped tennis." Ivan has become an obsessive golfer since retiring from tennis and plays on professional mini-tours in the States. He said: "I stay away from the golf aspect as she has a coach for that. I help her prepare: how to be mentally tough' how to eat properly' the importance of concentration."...Jelena Jankovic blogging for the WTA: "The last day back home, I signed a contract with a car company, Hyundai, and got a new jeep! It was really fun. I started driving around in Belgrade. I never drive when I'm at home, someone usually drives me around. But now I can drive myself. People are probably going to be a bit more careful there now. I think I'm a good driver but people might have to watch out when I'm on the road. Who knows what can happen! So, I left Serbia and arrived here in Beijing on Saturday. I'm still trying to adjust to the time here. Last night, I woke up at 2am and couldn't go back to sleep, so I woke up my mom so that she could be up with me. I'm sure she was really happy about that. I was here last year and really enjoyed the experience. The people here are really friendly and I know a lot of the players that are here, like Li Na and some of the other Chinese players. They were joking with me that they were going to get me to eat snakes here. You can order snakes in restaurants. It doesn't look too attractive. My mom said, "They can pay me and I still won't eat it," but I'll try it. Either here or in my next tournament, Guangzhou. They say it tastes like chicken. I don't even know what it looks like. You pick it out of the tank and they just cook it. When I think about it, it's not something I'd normally do, but Li Na will go with me so that's okay."...Mikhail Youzhny speaking with Reuters on the upcoming Russia vs. U.S. Davis Cup tie and facing Andy Roddick: "Hopefully, if we meet again the outcome would be totally different. It would be a totally different match, having little resemblance to our last meeting. It was on his terms as it was played on a hard court in New York, now we're going to meet on clay and in Moscow." Youzhny said he felt a bit tired playing in his first career grand slam semi-final against Roddick following his shock win over world number two Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals to pull off another upset victory. "I wasn't fresh enough in the third and fourth sets," he said of his 6-7 6-0 7-6 6-3 defeat. "Roddick was getting a lot of free points off his serve while I had to work very hard for every point. That was the difference." Russia's Davis Cup captain Shamil Tarpishchev said Youzhny had a lot more variety to his game than Roddick. "He is a smart player, he uses his head to construct a rally, to win a point," Tarpishchev said."...From AAP: "Roger Rasheed is relishing his stand-in role as Australian Davis Cup coach. Rasheed, Lleyton Hewitt's full-time coach, replaced Todd Woodbridge for Australia's semi-final against Argentina in Buenos Aires. Although it is not a permament position, the former touring professional isn't ruling out applying for a long-term gig. "It's something that I thrive on -- the challenges of working with elite athletes and one obviously being Lleyton," he said. "But also with Mark (Philippoussis) and Looch (Peter Luczak) and Wayne (Arthurs) and Handles (Paul Hanley)," Rasheed added after his first day on the job today. "When I'm away on the tour, I'm probably the only really sort of travelling coach, as far as Australians go, so I'm always offering myself out to those guys and I go and watch their matches and try to offer any assistance that I can. A lot of the times they do take that up, which is good, so it's a role that fits very well for me and we'll see what happens down the track. At the moment, we'll just take it one day at a time and see what happens." Rasheed offered tips to Philippoussis on occasions during his 90-minute practice session with Hewitt and the big Victorian seemed more than happy to accept any advice as his claycourt form lifted from yesterday's effort."...From ABC Australia: "Argentina's Jose Acasuso has accused Lleyton Hewitt of turning this weekend's Davis Cup semi-final into a circus, with the Australian requiring special security during his visit to the South American country. Hewitt, who arrived in Buenos Aires on Sunday night, is being accompanied by two personal minders during his week-long stay in the Argentine capital. The Australian is highly unpopular in Argentina after being involved in acrimonious incidents with several of the country's top players during his career. "Hewitt seems to be thinking that he's come to Iraq," Acasuso said. "But we're not bothered because this is the circus that he wanted to set up. Nothing's going to happen and we shouldn't pay any attention to it. We're just worried about Argentina. Whether he has one bodyguard or 500 bodyguards, that's up to him."...From Glenn Collins writing for the New York Times: "In a victory for organized tennis officeholders yesterday, a State Supreme Court judge dismissed a lawsuit by insurgent candidates seeking to depose the leadership of the 46,000-member Eastern Section of the United States Tennis Association. However, Jonathan Lippman, the chief administrative judge of the state court system, said that the 11 challengers have the right to inspect and recount the ballots in the slate's narrow January loss, which was decided by only 80 votes out of 12,080 cast. The court decision, involving charges of voting irregularities, was eagerly awaited not only because it involved a power struggle to control the prestigious Eastern Section -- with its staff of 20 and its $3 million budget -- but also because some critics saw a racial subtext in the dispute. In the election, the Eastern Section membership elected its first black president, Dale G. Caldwell, 46. An educational-publishing consultant, Mr. Caldwell has been a certified tennis teaching professional for 21 years and a nationally ranked 40-and-over player. A month after Mr. Caldwell's win, he appointed a black executive director, the group's second in 85 years."...From the Justine Henin-Hardenne website: "It's with much sadness that Justine retired the Belgium doubles match in Fed Cup. A pain on the back of her knee made it impossible to continue at that point. On Monday she went to medical examinations, and a tear to posterior part of the right leg was revealed. Justine will be unable to participate in the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany from October 2. The Belgian has been told to take three weeks of complete rest to heal this injury, if things go well, she will gradually begin training again. Justine's leg injury also has her participation in Zurich, which begins on October 16, strongly compromised. Nonetheless, she hopes to play the WTA Championships in Madrid on November 7, and possibly a warm-up tournament prior to Spain."...Mara Santangelo has pulled out of the Slovenia Open with a shoulder injury...From Tennisreporters.net: "Clijsters did show up in Charleroi [Fed Cup] to cheer her teammates on. Carlos Moya also showed to cheer on his girlfriend, Pennetta, and the Italians."...Joachim "Pim Pim" Johansson in playing a Futures event this week and is reportedly no longer dating Lleyton Hewitt's sister...From Greg Johnson of the LA Times: "Maria Sharapova giggled last month after winning the Acura Classic tennis tournament in Carlsbad and being handed the keys to a 2007 Acura. "I don't know what I can do with the car, because Range Rover is my sponsor," Sharapova said. "Maybe I'll just have to put it in the garage and leave it so Range Rover doesn't get mad." The commercial plug prompted good-natured shouts from fans who were willing to take the upscale sport utility vehicle. It also left tournament sponsor Acura slightly red-faced and underscored the tension created when an athlete's individual endorsement deals bump up against corporate sponsorships arranged by teams, leagues and venues."