Amelie Mauresmo squandered four match points before falling 0-6, 6-1, 7-6 (10/8) to Dominika Cibulkova in round one of the Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament yesterday.
Mauresmo twice came back from a break down in the final set to lead 5-4 but miscued on each of three match points in the 10th game.
She went 4-1 up in the tie-breaker but survived one match point against her at 5-6 after Cibulkova missed an easy forehand.
PHOTO: AFP
Mauresmo hit a return wide on her last match point and then Cibulkova fired a passing shot to take a 9-8 lead. The match ended when Mauresmo hit a shot long.
“It’s always definitely frustrating to lose a match when you are having match points,” said the 2006 Wimbledon and Australian Open.
“In the second set, I let myself down a little bit ... letting her get back into the match,” she said.
Despite advancing Cibulkova, from Slovakia was disappointed with her performance.
“I wasn’t playing very well from the beginning until the end,” she said.
“I don’t know, I was just feeling very tired because I came here the day before yesterday, and I just didn’t feel comfortable,” Cibulkova said.
“I saved four match points. The match was really close in the third set. If I could have been playing better, I would have closed it earlier in the third set. But I just fought and I just won this match,” she said.
Mauresmo refused to contemplate retirement after having struggled with injuries and poor form.
“Last year I was asking myself lots of questions,” said the 29-year-old, who has been bothered by rib and thigh trouble this year.
“But not this year, strangely. Last summer, I had doubts I could compete physically on the same level with the top players, but I found the answer at the end of last year,” she said.
“Why do I keep going? Because I still love it. I feel like I still have things to accomplish. I want to evolve a little bit. It’s a challenge,” Mauresmo said.
Two seeds lost yesterday with seventh-ranked Daniela Hantuchova losing to Francesca Schiavone 6-1, 7-5 and eighth seed Anna Chakvetadze of Russia losing to Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
In other first-round action, sixth seed Agnieszka Radwanska strolled past Japan’s Aiko Nakamura 6-1, 6-4, while Marion Bartoli of France defeated Russia’s Maria Kirilenko of Russia 6-2, 6-2.
Japan’s Ayumi Morita, edged past Agnes Szavay of Hungary 6-7 (7/9), 7-5, 6-4, while France’s Alize Cornet saw off Canada’s Aleksandra Wozniak 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Flavia Pennetta of Italy was a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Israel’s Shahar Peer.
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