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| January 9, 2002 | Wednesday | Shawwal 24, 1422 |
Hingis starts new season with convincing victory
SYDNEY, Jan 8 - Former world number one Martina Hingis opened her 2002 campaign in clinical fashion Tuesday, thrashing American doubles specialist Lisa Raymond 6-1 6-1 in the second round of the Sydney International.
Playing her first competitive match since undergoing ankle surgery in October, the 21-year-old Swiss dusted off the cobwebs to claim victory in just 46 minutes.
While Hingis hardly missed a beat in her match, Belgium’s Wimbledon finalist Justine Henin had to overcome a jittery start to defeat Barbara Schett 7-6 6-3 in their first round encounter.
Henin, beaten by Venus Williams in last weekend’s Australian women’s hardcourt final, committed 38 unforced errors and struggled to find her range on serve before eventually sealing victory after 82 minutes.
The French enjoyed a mixed start at Sydney’s Olympic tennis centre with Sandrine Testud and Julien Boutter both winning easily but Fabrice Santoro losing to Karol Kucera.
Seventh seed Testud breezed through to the second round with a 6-0 6-2 win over Slovenia’s Tina Pisnik while Boutter upset men’s sixth seed, Swede Thomas Johansson, 7-6 7-5.
Santoro lost 6-4 1-6 6-3 to Kucera while Rainer Schuettler beat his fellow German Nicolas Kiefer 6-2 6-2 and Czech Bohdan Ulihrach defeated Nicolas Lapentti 6-3 6-1.
Results:
Women’s second round 6-Amelie Mauresmo (France) beat Amanda Coetzer (South Africa) 6-3 5-7 6-3; 2-Martina Hingis (Switzerland) beat Lisa Raymond (U.S.) 6-1 6-1; 4-Serena Williams (U.S.) beat Anna Kournikova (Russia) 6-2 4-6 6-3
Women’s first round 5-Justine Henin (Belgium) beat Barbara Schett (Austria) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3; 7-Sandrine Testud (France) beat Tina Pisnik (Slovenia) 6-0 6-2; Henrieta Nagyova (Slovakia) beat Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (Spain) 6-1 2-6 6-3
Men’s first round 2-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Tommy Robredo (Spain) 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5); Xavier Malisse (Belgium) beat Hicham Arazi (Morocco) 6-3 retired; Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand) beat 1-Sebastien Grosjean (France) 6-3 6-4; 4-Guillermo Canas (Argentina) beat Ramon Delgado (Paraguay) 3-6; 6-4 6-1; Julien Boutter (France) beat 6-Thomas Johansson (Sweden) 7-6 (7-4) 7-5; 8-Albert Portas (Spain) beat Jacobo Diaz (Spain) 7-5 6-4; Marcelo Rios (Chile) beat Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-1); Nicolas Escude (France) beat Alberto Martin (Spain) 6-1 6-4; Rainer Schuettler (Germany) beat Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) 6-2 6-2; Bohdan Ulihrach (Czech Republic) beat Nicolas Lapentti (Ecuador) 6-3 6-1; Karol Kucera (Slovakia) beat Fabrice Santoro (France) 6-4 1-6 6-3—Reuters
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