Former champion Martina Hingis made a successful return to Doha in breezing past Mashona Washington of the US 6-1, 6-2 in 46 minutes at the Qatar Open on Monday.
Hingis, two months into her comeback following a three-year retirement, was playing her first match in Doha since she won the inaugural final in 2001.
She was broken in the first game by Washington, then won the next eight.
"I think I played very well, except the first game," she said. "I didn't miss much after being broken. During the first set, I knew I could do anything I wanted. I played all of my shots with confidence."
In the second round she will face third-seeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy for a place in the quarterfinals.
Both seeds in action on Monday lost; No. 7 Elena Likhovtseva, the 2003 runner-up, fell to Italy's Roberta Vinci 6-4, 6-4, and No. 8 Jelena Jankovic was beaten by Germany's Julia Schruff 6-2, 7-5.
Also, Li Na of China topped Vera Zvonareva of Russia 6-4, 6-4, and Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine put out Vera Dushevina of Russia 7-6 (1), 6-1. Second-ranked Amelie Mauresmo can reclaim the No. 1 ranking from Kim Clijsters next Monday if she wins the tournament.
Andre Agassi produced vintage form to dispatch the UK's Greg Rusedski 7-6 (4), 6-0 in the opening round of the Dubai Open on Monday.
The 35-year-old American, playing only his second tournament of the season and third after his loss to Roger Federer in the final of the US Open last September, showed no obvious discomfort from the lower back strain which sidelined him for the last two weeks.
"It's good to be back on the court healthy and excited," said Agassi, who was also constrained by an ankle injury in the latter part of 2005.
"I am still not as comfortable and that will take a couple of matches, but what was important was that I was getting into good positions which means I am moving well," Agassi said.
The eight-time Grand Slam champion served well and hit some exceptional passing shots to win his ninth match in 11 clashes with Rusedski. The second set took only 21 minutes.
Rusedski's compatriot, Tim Henman, battling his own persistent injuries, advanced to the second round with a 6-2, 7-6 (6) win over Spain's Feliciano Lopez, the 2004 runner-up.
Also, fifth-seeded David Ferrer of Spain became the first seeded player to exit when Rainer Schuettler of Germany ended a five-match tour losing streak 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.
Agassi and Rusedski hit six aces each by the time the score was 3-3, and the American received his big chance to break in the seventh game. With Rusedski nowhere in the frame, Agassi could have put his volley anywhere on the court, but hit it wide.
Once Agassi got a mini break in the tiebreaker, there was no looking back. In the second set, Rusedski won only two points off Agassi's three service games.
"Once I got the break, I got into a better rhythm in the second set. He did not serve a high percentage of first serves in and I was returning well," said Agassi.
Henman, in his 6-2, 7-6 (6) win over Lopez, showed no signs of discomfort with his back which prompted him to think of retirement at the end of last year.
On Monday he dropped to 49th in the world rankings and relinquished his position as the top-ranked Briton for the first time since 1999 to Andy Murray.
Henman wrapped up the first set easily against Lopez, ranked 11 places higher, but had to fight it out in the second set, which lasted 59 minutes.
Henman was down 0-3 in the tiebreaker, but the Spaniard's game continued to veer between brilliant and ridiculous, and he was down three match points. Lopez saved all three, and then another, before Henman closed it at 8-6.
Wild card Henman next meets the winner between seventh-seeded Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic and qualifier John van Lottum of the Netherlands.
Stepanek was in Dubai following his first career title on Sunday in Rotterdam.
In other matches, Igor Andreev of Russia beat Andreas Seppi of Italy 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-4, and Robin Vik of the Czech Republic defeated qualifier Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia-Montenegro 6-2, 6-4.
Another qualifier, Ivo Klec of Slovakia earned his first ATP win at the expense of Daniele Bracciali of Italy 6-4, 6-4, and Olivier Rochus of Belgium pasted 2002 champion Fabrice Santoro of France 6-4, 6-1.
Rochus will meet either third-seeded Nikolay Davydenko, or Marat Safin, making his return to the tour for the first time since August.
Top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt rallied to beat Florian Mayer 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 on Monday night in the first round of the Tennis Channel Open.
Mayer was leading 2-1 when the match was delayed for over an hour because of rain.
Also on Monday, Jonas Bjorkman defeated sixth-seeded Gael Monfils 7-6 (8), 6-3, in a rough afternoon for seeded players.
Three of the eight seeded men were no longer in action after the first session, including seventh-seeded Tommy Haas of Germany, who withdrew with a right shoulder injury and was replaced for his opener yesterday by Peter Luczak of Australia.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB