Eighth-seeded Jelena Dokic beat Indonesian qualifier Angelique Widjaja 6-4, 6-4 Tuesday to move into the third round at the Rogers AT&T Cup.
Dokic, of Serbia-Montenegro, who had a first-round bye, has struggled to string wins together this season, reaching only one semifinal.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Seventh-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, No. 12 Elena Bovina of Russia, No. 14 Nadia Petrova of Russia and No. 15 Nathalie Dechy of France won first-round matches Tuesday, but No. 6 Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria, No. 13 Eleni Daniilidou of Greece and No. 16 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia lost.
Coetzer beat Japan's Saori Obata 7-6 (1), 6-4; Bovina downed Spain's Maria Sanchez Lorenzo 6-2, 6-4; Petrova, a French Open semifinalist, eliminated Germany's Marlene Weingartner 6-0, 6-0; and Dechy beat Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Spain's Magui Serna upset Maleeva 2-6, 6-3, 6-4; Lina Krasnoroutskaya of Russia beat Daniilidou 6-0, 3-6, 7-5; and Argentine Paola Suarez eliminated Kuznetsova 6-4, 7-6 (1).
Italy's Francesca Schiavone beat Russian Alina Jidkova 7-5, 6-3 to set up a second-round match against new world No. 1 Kim Clijsters yesterday.
In other matches Tuesday, Australian Nicole Pratt defeated Canadian Beier Ko 6-1, 6-3; Elena Likhovtseva defeated teen sensation and fellow Russian Maria Sharapova 7-6 (4), 6-1; and Mary Pierce, who was born in Montreal but plays out of France, beat Venezuela's Maria Vento-Kabchi 6-1, 6-1.
Since the French Open, Dokic's ranking has dropped from No. 11 to 17. The 20-year-old was No. 4 a year ago. Her best performance this season was in April in Warsaw, where she lost to Amelie Mauresmo in the semifinals. In the French Open, she failed to make it past the second round while she was eliminated in the third round at Wimbledon.
Dokic said she was bound to have a rough season eventually.
"I've played very well the last few years, I've just kept going up," she said. "And you get a year where you don't play so well and this is normal. This happens, I know this ... You can't play well for 10 years of your career."
Dokic has played 21 tournaments this year, and believed cutting back her schedule might be the key to bouncing back.
"I've played a lot of matches so I think mentally, I got a little bit tired," she said.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was