AP,
Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder cruised past Amber Liu of the US 6-1, 6-1 in her opening-round match at the Bank of the West Classic on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Schnyder overpowered the less experienced Liu, who was playing in only her third tour event of the season, to advance to meet with Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova in the second round.
Coming off a disappointing first-round loss at Wimbledon, Schnyder took advantage of several unforced errors by Liu, while playing an almost flawless match. She allowed only two points and won six straight games to capture the second set after falling behind 1-0.
“Right from the start I was moving great and my serve was on,” Schnyder said. “Sometimes those matches can get tricky when you let your opponent play and [start making] mistakes, but I stayed focused the whole match. We all know how quickly things can turn.”
Liu, No. 328 in the WTA rankings, had no answer for Schnyder’s two-handed backhand, which produced several winners from the baseline. A wild card entrant, Liu repeatedly hurt herself with numerous shots that went wide or into the net.
In upsets, Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova upended No. 7 Nadia Petrova of Russia, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, while Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada topped eighth-seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Four of the five qualifiers entered in the tournament won on Tuesday. As well as Wozniak, Michelle Larcher De Brito of Portugal beat Argentina’s Gisela Dulko 7-5, 7-6 (1); Australia’s Samantha Stosur defeated Anastasia Rodionova of Russia, 6-3, 6-1; and England’s Anne Keothavong beat India’s Sania Mirza 7-6 (4), 6-1.
Larcher De Brito, 15, is the youngest player in the tournament and was due to play top seed Serena Williams yesterday. It was to be Williams’ first match since losing to her sister Venus in the Wimbledon finals.
The only qualifier to lose was Hungary’s Melinda Czink, who was beaten by Israel’s Shahar Peer 7-5, 6-0.
■BLAKE DOWNS SELA
Agencies, INDIANAPOLIS
American James Blake looked rusty before he rallied to beat unheralded Israeli Dudi Sela 7-6 (2), 6-2 on Tuesday in a first-round match at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships.
Top-seeded Blake, ranked eighth in the world, hadn’t played a singles match since losing to Rainer Schuettler in the second round at Wimbledon last month. The 78th-ranked Sela led 2-0 in the opening set and had a 30-love lead in the next game before Blake bounced back.
The American took a 5-3 lead and had advantage twice with a chance to close the set, but couldn’t finish. Sela won the game, then took the next two to take a 6-5 lead.
Blake tied it at 6-all, then took the tiebreaker 7-2 to win the set.
Blake struggled with his serve during the first set, but was more accurate in the second.
“I just started going for it,” he said. “When you mis-hit sometimes, you start aiming it and it goes a little slower and it ends up not being as effective. You’re not getting it where you want to.”
German Tommy Haas also advanced on Tuesday, then said he will stay on in the game for as long as his delicate shoulder will allow.
The fifth seed defeated US youngster Jesse Levine 7-6 (7/4), 6-2.
“It’s been a tough year,” said the 30-year-old, who underwent shoulder surgery last autumn.
“I came back too early since I wanted to know how the shoulder would feel. I had to quit in the hard-court season, didn’t play the clay. I only started again after the spring on grass. I’ve really only played two events since Miami [in March].”
RSS