Sluggish Martinez suffers defeat

Published September 12, 2003

BALI (Indonesia), Sept 11: Spanish third seed Conchita Martinez slumped out of the Wismilak International on Thursday, humbled 6-1 6-3 by unseeded Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela in the second round.

Fifth-seeded Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand eased past Chinese qualifier Jie Zheng 6-4 6-3 and home favourite Angelique Widjaja overcame Tathiana Garbin of Italy 7-5 6-3.

Martinez, the 1994 Wimbledon champion, only just won her first-round match because of an upset stomach and looked heavy-legged against her improving Venezuelan opponent who reached the semifinals at Stanford last month.

The start was delayed for over an hour by heavy rain and 31-year-old Martinez said: “I do prefer playing in the sunshine. This weather makes you feel a little heavy, but it’s the same for both.

“I just didn’t play my best. Maybe it was because of yesterday. I was making a lot of unforced errors and playing short, and I didn’t feel I had my legs there.”

Vento-Kabchi was delighted. “I was playing a great player, a Grand Slam champion, and she has so much experience,” the Venezuelan said. “When I played her last time I had to run so much I couldn’t walk the next day.

“I was prepared for that and mentally I was very strong out there.”

In the last second round match, Switzerland’s Emmanuelle Gagliardi beat Croatian qualifier Ivana Abramovic 6-1 7-5.

Results:

Angelique Widjaja (Indonesia) bt Tathiana Garbin (Italy) 7-5 6-3; Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Switzerland) bt Ivana Abramovic (Croatia) 6-1 7-5; Maria Vento-Kabchi (Venezuela) bt Conchita Martinez (Spain) 6-1 6-3; Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) bt Jie Zheng (China) 6-4 6-3

Brazil Open results:

Rainer Schuettler (Germany) bt Andre Sa (Brazil) 6-2 6-0; Sjeng Schalken (Netherlands) bt Cyril Saulnier (France) 7-6 (7-4) 2-6 6-3; Gustavo Kuerten (Brazil) bt Magnus Norman (Sweden) 6-3 6-2; Eric Taino (U.S.) bt Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) 7-6 (7-5) 7-5; Vincent Spadea (U.S.) bt Guillermo Canas (Argentina) 6-4 7-5; Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) bt Todd Larkham (Australia) 6-4 2-6 6-1; Flavio Saretta (Brazil) bt Marcos Daniel (Brazil) 6-4 6-3; Kenneth Carlsen (Denmark) bt Franco Ferreiro (Brazil) 4-6 6-4 7-6 (13-11); Ricardo Mello (Brazil) bt Paul Capdeville (Chile) 6-7 (4-7) 6-0 6-1; Werner Eschauer (Austria) bt Julio Silva (Brazil) 5-7 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-2); Gregory Carraz (France) bt Alexander Popp (Germany) 6-1 4-6 6-1; Hermes Gamonal (Chile) bt Michael Quintero (Colombia) 7-6 (7-0) 6-2; Gaston Etlis (Argentina) bt Brian Vahaly (U.S.) 1-6 6-2 6-3.—Agencies

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