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Ivanovic starts season with a victory

Top-seeded Ana Ivanovic started her season with a 6-4, 6-2 win yesterday over Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic at the Brisbane International.

Ivanovic, who reached the Australian Open final last season and had the No. 1 ranking for part of the year after winning the French Open, set up triple match-point on Kvitova¡¦s serve and clinched it with a forehand winner.

The 21-year-old Serb will next play Italy¡¦s Roberta Vinci, who beat Germany¡¦s Anna-Lena Groenefeld 0-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Ivanovic needed an hour to take the first set, with Kvitova frequently pouncing on her second serve, and also got the benefit of an overrule at 4-4 that gave her momentum.

She held that game and then broke Kvitova¡¦s serve to take the set. Ivanovic was more convincing in the second, dropping serve once, but breaking Kvitova¡¦s serve three times.

At the end, she waved and blew kisses to the vocal, pro-Serbian crowd.

Amelie Mauresmo, whose ranking has slipped to No. 24 from a high of No. 1 in 2006 when she won two Grand Slam titles, fended off two set points in the first before beating Australia¡¦s Jelena Dokic 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/5).

Mauresmo has been working with new coach Hugo Lecoq since failing to finish in the top 20 last year for the first time in a decade.

She said her serve was improved, but she¡¦d had mixed success putting minor technique and tactical changes into play.

¡§It was a tough first match ¡X she was playing some good tennis and gave me a bit of trouble,¡¨ Mauresmo said.¡¨

Dokic, who has fallen to 177th after reaching a career-high No. 4 in 2002, is making another attempted comeback to the top level and relied on a wild-card entry for Brisbane.

Three seeded players were knocked out of the women¡¦s draw.

Italy¡¦s Sara Errani beat fourth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-7 (1/7), 6-4, 6-0; Olga Govortsova of Belarus ousted No. 8 Francesca Schiavone of Italy 7-5, 6-2 and Australian Samantha Stosur beat No. 9 Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-2, 6-3.

On the men¡¦s side, Finland¡¦s Jarkko Nieminen advanced 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 over an ailing Marcos Baghdatis.

Baghdatis, a Greek Cypriot who earned a big following in Australia when he reached the Australian Open final in 2006, needed treatment on his left hamstring in the second set.

Eighth-seeded Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic beat Igor Kunitsyn of Russia 6-2, 6-2 and Austria¡¦s Jurgen Melzer beat American Mardy Fish 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4).

Top-seeded Novak Djokovic, the defending Australian Open champion, is scheduled to play Ernests Gulbis of Latvia today.
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