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| January 30, 2003 | Thursday | Ziqa’ad 26,1423 |
Seles defies pain barrier to oust local favourite
TOKYO, Jan 29: Held together by sticky tape and a fierce will to win, top seed Monica Seles grunted and grimaced her way to a 7-5 5-7 6-1 victory over Ai Sugiyama at the Pan Pacific Open on Wednesday.
The former world number one, who sprained her left ankle during her second-round defeat to little-known Czech Klara Koukalova at the Australian Open, squandered four match points with Sugiyama serving at 4-5 in the second set.
But Seles, her movement clearly restricted after her Melbourne mishap, dipped into her vast reserves of experience in the final set and broke twice before sealing victory on her sixth match point when Sugiyama swatted a forehand return wide.
After receiving a bye in the first round, the Croatian-born American next plays the winner of the all-Russian clash between Lina Krasnoroutskaya and Elena Bovina, who beat Israeli seventh seed Anna Pistolesi 6-2 3-6 6-3.
Organisers of the $1.3 million event are hoping that Seles does not suffer any relapse this week after Martina Hingis, Jennifer Capriati and Anna Kournikova all pulled out with injuries before the start of the tournament.
Meanwhile, fourth seed Chanda Rubin opened with a 6-4 6-0 drubbing of Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik in her first match in Tokyo since 2000.
Former champion Iva Majoli, a first-round loser in Melbourne, quickly got her game back on track with a convincing 6-3 6-3 victory over American Alexandra Stevenson.
The Croatian, who won here in 1996, the year before she captured the French Open title, will play third seed Lindsay Davenport in the second round on Thursday.
The American, chasing a third Pan Pacific crown, also received a bye in the first round.
In other matches, doubles specialist Lisa Raymond beat Argentine Paola Suarez 6-1 4-6 7-5 while Indonesian Angelique Widjaja defeated wildcard Jeon Mi-ra of South Korea 6-3 6-3 in an all-Asian clash.
Results
Second round
Monica Seles bt Ai Sugiyama 7-5 5-7 6-1; Chanda Rubin bt Katarina Srebotnik 6-4 6-0
First round: Magdalena Maleeva bt Saori Obata 6-3 6-3; Angelique Widjaja bt Jeon Mi-ra 6-3 6-3; Lisa Raymond bt Paola Suarez 6-1 4-6 7-5; Iva Majoli bt Alexandra Stevenson 6-3 6-3; Elena Bovina b Anna Pistolesi 6-2 3-6 6-3.
Malisse ROUTS Sa
MILAN: Number four seed Xavier Malisse of Belgium booked his place in the second round of the men’s indoor ATP event here on Tuesday with a comfortable straight sets win over Brazil’s Andre Sa.
Malisse, who was born in Kortrijk but now lives in Florida, swept into the last 16 of the 380,000-euro tournament with a 6-4, 6-4 victory and will play Frenchman Julien Varlet in the second round.
Temperamental Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov, a double Grand Slam champion having lifted the French Open at Roland Garros in 1996 and the Australian Open in 1999, claimed his place in the second round with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Marcelo Charpentier of Argentina.
Kafelnikov, who will be 29 next month, will meet Denmark’s Kristian Pless in the next round.
Pless needed a third set to shake off Moroccan Hicham Arazi on Monday.
Richard Krajicek, Wimbledon champion in 1996, shrugged off Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko to win his first round match with ease.
Krajicek won 7-5, 6-2 as the Dutchman’s powerful serves eventually wore down the promising 21-year-old.
Veteran Swede Jonas Bjorkman saw off Czech Tomas Zib in straight sets to advance to the next round, while Varlet ousted Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.
Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic and Frenchman Anthony Depuis both progressed after victories over Olivier Rochus of Belgium and former Wimbledon semifinalist Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus respectively.
Results
First round:
Yevgeny Kafelnikov bt Marcelo Charpentier 6-2, 7-5;
Martin Verkerk bt Adrian Voinea 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4;
Ivan Ljubicic bt Olivier Rochus 7-5, 6-3;
Anthony Depuis bt Vladimir Voltchkov 4-6, 6-3, 6-4;
Xavier Malisse bt Andre Sa 6-4, 6-4;
Julien Varlet bt Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4;
Richard Krajicek bt Nikolay Davydenko 7-5, 6-2;
Jonas Bjorkman bt Tomas Zib 7-5, 6-3.—AFP
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