Eighth-seeded Jelena Dokic beat Indonesian qualifier Angelique Widjaja 6-4, 6-4 Tuesday to move into the third round at the Rogers AT&T Cup.
Dokic, of Serbia-Montenegro, who had a first-round bye, has struggled to string wins together this season, reaching only one semifinal.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Seventh-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, No. 12 Elena Bovina of Russia, No. 14 Nadia Petrova of Russia and No. 15 Nathalie Dechy of France won first-round matches Tuesday, but No. 6 Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria, No. 13 Eleni Daniilidou of Greece and No. 16 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia lost.
Coetzer beat Japan's Saori Obata 7-6 (1), 6-4; Bovina downed Spain's Maria Sanchez Lorenzo 6-2, 6-4; Petrova, a French Open semifinalist, eliminated Germany's Marlene Weingartner 6-0, 6-0; and Dechy beat Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Spain's Magui Serna upset Maleeva 2-6, 6-3, 6-4; Lina Krasnoroutskaya of Russia beat Daniilidou 6-0, 3-6, 7-5; and Argentine Paola Suarez eliminated Kuznetsova 6-4, 7-6 (1).
Italy's Francesca Schiavone beat Russian Alina Jidkova 7-5, 6-3 to set up a second-round match against new world No. 1 Kim Clijsters yesterday.
In other matches Tuesday, Australian Nicole Pratt defeated Canadian Beier Ko 6-1, 6-3; Elena Likhovtseva defeated teen sensation and fellow Russian Maria Sharapova 7-6 (4), 6-1; and Mary Pierce, who was born in Montreal but plays out of France, beat Venezuela's Maria Vento-Kabchi 6-1, 6-1.
Since the French Open, Dokic's ranking has dropped from No. 11 to 17. The 20-year-old was No. 4 a year ago. Her best performance this season was in April in Warsaw, where she lost to Amelie Mauresmo in the semifinals. In the French Open, she failed to make it past the second round while she was eliminated in the third round at Wimbledon.
Dokic said she was bound to have a rough season eventually.
"I've played very well the last few years, I've just kept going up," she said. "And you get a year where you don't play so well and this is normal. This happens, I know this ... You can't play well for 10 years of your career."
Dokic has played 21 tournaments this year, and believed cutting back her schedule might be the key to bouncing back.
"I've played a lot of matches so I think mentally, I got a little bit tired," she said.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
RSS