16 February 2005	Wednesday	06 Muharram 1426

BRUSSELS, Feb 15: Nathalie Dechy of France and Croatian Karolina Sprem suffered surprise defeats in the Antwerp Open first round on Tuesday.

Dechy, the world number 13 and semi-finalist in last month's Australian Open, lost 7-6 6-4 to Czech Klara Koukalova.

"I never found the proper tempo," Dechy told reporters. "I was not feeling a 100 percent mainly because I have a little flu and also because I haven't been able to practise a lot indoors this winter."

Sprem, the world number 17, was beaten 7-5 6-3 by Russian qualifier Anna Chakvetadze who won the first five games of the match. Camille Pin of France beat Spain's Marta Marrero 6-1 6-2, and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia defeated Italian Maria Elena Camerin 3-6 6-2 6-4.

Belgian Kim Clijsters makes her long-awaited return from injury later on Tuesday in a first-round match against Croatian Jelena Kostanic.

RESULTS: Nadia Petrova bt Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-4 6-1; Klara Koukalova bt 6-Nathalie Dechy 7-6 (9-7) 6-4; Chakvetadze bt Karolina Sprem 7-5 6-3; Camille Pin bt Marta Marrero 6-1 6-2; Katarina Srebotnik bt Maria Elena Camerin 3-6 6-2 6-4

COLOUR BLIND NALBANDIAN FALLS

ROTTERDAM: David Nalbandian blamed temporary colour blindness on his surprise 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 first round reversal by Czech outsider Radek Stepanek at the 782,250-euros Rotterdam Open on Tuesday.

Nalbandian, the fourth seed from Argentina, was left puzzled by his inability to concentrate on the yellow tennis ball inside the Ahoy stadium. And the Australian Open quarter-finalist could only pin the blame on what he felt was distraction from a sponsor's trademark green court background.

Nalbandian struggled with his problem during a first set which Stepanek, a Milan semi-finalist this month, took with ease. But things got better for the South American seed in the second as he levelled.

The 28th-ranked Stepanek moves into a second-round showdown with unseeded 2004 finalist Juan Carlos Ferrero, trying to recover his poise after an injury plagued 2004.

France's Michel Llodra moved into the second round over Dutchman Peter Wessels 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-2. Llodra's victory was only his second this year, the first coming in early January in Sydney. The world number 52 Frenchman has four losses so far.

The biggest name on court Tuesday was British third seed Tim Henman, facing a night match against German Nicolas Kiefer, whom he leads 6-3 overall. Henman owns an impressive record at the venue, playing finals in 1999 and 2000, and a reaching the last four in 1996 and 2002. -Agencies