25 February 2004	Wednesday	04 Muharram 1425

DUBAI, Feb 24:Jelena Dokic made an ignominious exit from the Dubai Open on Tuesday after slumping to a 6-1 6-2 first round defeat by Petra Mandula. It took the Hungarian just 48 minutes to dismiss the number six seed from Serbia and Montenegro who produced a careless and mediocre performance.

Dokic's serve was often ineffective, allowing Mandula to hit a succession of stinging returns, while her groundstrokes were unpredictable and at times she could hardly put a ball in court.

Dokic dropped her opening service game to love, and held serve for the only time in the match in the third game. After Mandula broke again to lead 4-1 and for the set, five consecutive breaks of serve in the second set left the Hungarian leading 4-2, before Dokic rounded off her miserable display by claiming just four points in the final three games.

Fifth seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan had no problems against Russia's Lina Krasnoroutskaya, taking 50 minutes to win 6-2 6-3.

Spaniard Conchita Martinez, seeded eight, also advanced comfortably with a 6-3 6-2 success over qualifier Mervana Jugic-Salkic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Marseille Open

MARSEILLE: First round results in the $593,750 Marseille ATP Open: Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) bt Nicolas Escude (France) 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7-2); Alberto Martin (Spain) bt Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand) 1-6 6-3 6-2; Sargis Sargsian (Armenia) bt Fabrice Santoro (France) 7-5 7-6 (7-4). -Reuters