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Schnyder breezes past Liu at Stanford

Nadia Petrova reacts after missing a shot against Dominika Cibulkova during their match on Tuesday at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California. PHOTO: AFP

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.

Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia serves to Russian Nadia Petrova during their first round match at the Bank of the West Classic on Tuesday in Stanford, California. PHOTO: AFP

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.

James Blake of the US celebrates his win over Dudi Sela of Israel on Tuesday at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana. PHOTO: AFP

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].”

Haas said that he will soldier on in the game for as long as he feels fit.

“I’ve been out for a few years here and there. If I’m feeling fit, I can do some damage,” he said. “If the shoulder plays up again, and I start to struggle ... we’ll have to see.”

In other matches Jun Woong-sun of South Korea beat Australian Chris Guccione 6-4, 7-6 (4) and Rajeev Ram of the US rallied from 6-3 down in the tiebreaker to upset sixth-seeded Fabrice Santoro of France 7-6 (6), 6-4. Fourth-seeded American Sam Querrey defeated Go Soeda of Japan 6-4, 6-4 in the late match.

Querrey will play compatriot Vince Spadea today.

Spadea beat another American, Donald Young, 6-2, 6-4.

Journeyman Bobby Reynolds beat last year’s finalist Frank Dancevic for the second time in as many meetings, taking down the Canadian 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 6-2.

The pair met only three weeks ago at Wimbledon, with Reynolds, the world No. 90, also triumphing.

Naturalised American Wayne Odesnik beat Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan 6-4, 7-5 while Colombian Alejandro Falla put out Brazilian eighth seed Tomaz Bellucci 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
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