Out of form former French world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo got off to the perfect start in search of a morale-boosting tournament win in Paris on Tuesday with an easy 6-1, 6-2 win over American qualifier Julie Ditty.
Mauresmo's chances of lifting the title for a third time improved also with the defeat of titleholder Nadia Petrova, the Russian seeded fifth going down 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 6-4 to Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine.
Mauresmo, 28 and coming off a disappointing Australian Open where she went out in the third round, took less than an hour to dispose of the 29-year-old American, who is ranked 101 in the world and whom she had not played since their junior days.
PHOTO: AFP
"I can take a lot of positives out of this victory," said Mauresmo, who has two Grand Slam titles to her name both coming in 2006 at the Aussie Open and Wimbledon.
"It's a good start, albeit against a girl who lacks energy in her game but as I have been having a hard time of it lately that I will take any sort of win," she said.
The Frenchwoman, who won the title in 2001 and 2006, will face Greece's Eleni Daniilidou in the second round.
"She [Daniilidou] is a more aggressive player than Ditty," Mauresmo said.
"I am very wary of her. It will be a hard match to play," added Mauresmo, who has given her coach Loic Courteau a week off.
Petrova put her defeat down to the in-form Bondarenko, who is ranked 43 in the world and recently won the women's doubles title with her sister Alona at the Australian Open, as a result of a lack of confidence which has seen her fail to win a tournament since landing the crown in Paris last year.
■ PATTAYA OPEN
AP, PATTAYA, THAILAND
Fifth-seed Angelique Kerber of Germany won a first round 6-3, 7-5 victory over Yuan Meng of China at the US$170,000 Pattaya Women's Open at the Dusit Resort on Tuesday.
Seventh-seed Jill Craybas of the US also pushed through to the second round, quickly eliminating Olga Savchuk of Ukraine 6-1, 6-1.
Two seeds fell by the wayside in the tournament, which was delayed a day by rain on Monday.
In an all-Russian match, Ekaterina Bychkova defeated sixth seed Yaroslava Shvedova 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-3.
Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn eliminated Russia's Anastasia Rodionova, 6-2, 6-1.
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