Out of form former French world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo got off to the perfect start in search of a morale-boosting tournament win in Paris on Tuesday with an easy 6-1, 6-2 win over American qualifier Julie Ditty.
Mauresmo's chances of lifting the title for a third time improved also with the defeat of titleholder Nadia Petrova, the Russian seeded fifth going down 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 6-4 to Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine.
Mauresmo, 28 and coming off a disappointing Australian Open where she went out in the third round, took less than an hour to dispose of the 29-year-old American, who is ranked 101 in the world and whom she had not played since their junior days.
PHOTO: AFP
"I can take a lot of positives out of this victory," said Mauresmo, who has two Grand Slam titles to her name both coming in 2006 at the Aussie Open and Wimbledon.
"It's a good start, albeit against a girl who lacks energy in her game but as I have been having a hard time of it lately that I will take any sort of win," she said.
The Frenchwoman, who won the title in 2001 and 2006, will face Greece's Eleni Daniilidou in the second round.
"She [Daniilidou] is a more aggressive player than Ditty," Mauresmo said.
"I am very wary of her. It will be a hard match to play," added Mauresmo, who has given her coach Loic Courteau a week off.
Petrova put her defeat down to the in-form Bondarenko, who is ranked 43 in the world and recently won the women's doubles title with her sister Alona at the Australian Open, as a result of a lack of confidence which has seen her fail to win a tournament since landing the crown in Paris last year.
■ PATTAYA OPEN
AP, PATTAYA, THAILAND
Fifth-seed Angelique Kerber of Germany won a first round 6-3, 7-5 victory over Yuan Meng of China at the US$170,000 Pattaya Women's Open at the Dusit Resort on Tuesday.
Seventh-seed Jill Craybas of the US also pushed through to the second round, quickly eliminating Olga Savchuk of Ukraine 6-1, 6-1.
Two seeds fell by the wayside in the tournament, which was delayed a day by rain on Monday.
In an all-Russian match, Ekaterina Bychkova defeated sixth seed Yaroslava Shvedova 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-3.
Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn eliminated Russia's Anastasia Rodionova, 6-2, 6-1.
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