03 January 2005	Monday	21 Ziqa'ad 1425

PERTH, Jan 2: Argentina drew first blood in the main draw of the Hopman Cup mixed teams tennis tournament here Sunday but had to sweat more than they expected to overcome Italy 2-1.

The fourth-seeded Argentinian pairing of Gisela Dulko and Guillermo Coria had been tipped to win easily against the unseeded Italians but in the end the Group A tie came down to the decisive mixed doubles.

RESULT:

GROUP A: Argentina beat Italy 2-1.

WOMEN'S SINGLES: Francesca Schiavone (ITA) bt Gisela Dulko (ARG) 6-1, 6-3

MEN'S SINGLES: Guillermo Coria (ARG) bt Davide Sanguinetti (ITA) 6-1, 7-6 (7/4)

MIXED DOUBLES: Coria/Dulko (ARG) bt Sanguinetti/Schiavone (ITA) 7-5, 6-0.

CHENNAI OPEN:

Chennai: Players will have the victims of last week's devastating tsunami, rather than their own success, uppermost in their minds at the first ATP tournament of 2005 starting on Monday.

WTA RESULTS

GOLD COAST: Results from the Gold Coast WTA tournament on Sunday:

ROUND 1: Silvia Farina Elia (ITA x5) bt Stephanie Foretz (FRA) 6-3, 7-5; Iveta Benesova (CZE) bt Tiffany Welford (AUS) 6-4, 6-2; Sesil Karatantcheva (BUL) bt Selima Sfar (TUN) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1; Angela Haynes (USA) bt Sunitha Rao (USA) 7-6 (8/6), 6-3; Flavia Pennetta (ITA) bt Nathalie Dechy (FRA x6) 7-6 (9/7), 6-1; Magdalena Maleeva (BUL x8) bt Yuliana Fedak (UKR) 6-4, 6-1; Denisa Chladkova (CZE) bt Severine Beltrame (FRA) 4-6, 6-4, 7-5; Na Li (CHN) bt Tathiana Garbin (ITA) 6-3, 6-1. -Agencies