January 17, 2006	Tuesday	Zilhaj 16, 1426

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MELBOURNE, Jan 16: Venus Williams was knocked out of the Australian Open on Monday and her sister Serena, the defending champion, was lucky not to suffer the same fate on a dramatic start to the first Grand Slam of the year.

Tenth seed Venus made her earliest grand slam exit in five years when she fell to little-known Bulgarian teenager Tszvetana Pironkova 2-6, 6-0, 9-7 in the first round while Serena struggled to a 6-3, 6-7, 6-2 win over unseeded Chinese player Li Na.

Wimbledon champion Venus was the biggest casualty on an action-packed opening day at Melbourne Park that saw eight seeded players eliminated.

The men’s draw lost two seeds. Former Australian Open finalist Carlos Moya lost in five sets to Andrei Pavel and big-serving American Taylor Dent fell to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

The women’s draw lost Russian ninth seed Elena Dementieva, who was beaten by Germany’s Julia Schruff, as well as Tatiana Golovin, Ai Sugiyama, Anabel Medina Garrigues and Klara Koukalova.

Argentina’s Masters Cup champion David Nalbandian, one of just four men to beat Roger Federer last year, survived a tough scrap with Thai qualifier Danai Udomchoke to win 6-2, 6-2, 1-6, 6-7, 6-1.

His Davis Cup team mate, eighth seed Gaston Gaudio, had a much easier time against Razvan Sabau, strolling into the second round when the injured Romanian pulled out in the second set.

Second seed Andy Roddick buried the disappointment of losing in the first round of last year’s US Open with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Swiss qualifier Michael Lammer.

World number one Lindsay Davenport had a short first day, crushing Australian wildcard Casey Dellacqua 6-2, 6-1 in less than an hour, while Maria Sharapova and the bookmakers’ favourite Justine Henin-Hardenne also made light work of their opponents.

Sharapova showed few signs of the shoulder injury that threatened to wreck her campaign as she breezed to a 6-2, 6-1 first-round win over Sandra Kloesel while 2004 Australian Open champion Henin-Hardenne beat Marta Domachowska 6-2, 6-1.

Monday’s results:

Men’s singles:

First round: 2-Andy Roddick (US) bt Michael Lammer (Switzerland) 6-4, 6-2, 6-2; Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) bt Tim Henman (Britain) 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5; Gilles Muller (Luxembourg) bt Ricardo Mello (Brazil) 5-7, 6-2, 6-7,(4-6), 7-6 (6-4), 6-0; 10-Thomas Johansson (Sweden) bt Cyril Saulnier (France) 6-1, 7-6 (6-3) 6-4; Gilles Simon (France) bt Nicolas Massu (Chile) 7-6 (8-6), 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3; Xavier Malisse (Belgium) bt Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) 7-5, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2; 20-James Blake (US) bt Jose Acasuso (Argentina) 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (6-4); 19-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) bt Bobby Reynolds (US) 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (2-6), 6-1; 7-Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) bt Chris Guccione (Australia) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 7-6 (6-3); Andrei Pavel (Romania) bt 32-Carlos Moya (Spain) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 3-6, 6-4; 16-Tommy Robredo (Spain) bt Jiri Vanek (Czech Republic) 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3; Wesley Moodie (South Africa) bt Oscar Hernandez (Spain) 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-2; Fabrice Santoro (France) bt Vince Spadea (US) 3-6, 6-0, 6-2, 6-3; Jean-Christophe Faurel (France) bt Alexander Waske (Germany) 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 7-6 (6-2); Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) bt 27-Taylor Dent (US) 7-6 (6-4), 6-3, 7-6 (6-4); 31-Feliciano Lopez (Spain) bt Tomas Behrend (Germany) 6-2, 7-5, 6-3; Julien Benneteau (France) bt Marcos Daniel (Brazil) 6-2, 6-1, 3-0 — Daniel retired; Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) bt Lukas Dlouhy (Czech Republic) 7-5, 6-2, 6-4; 18-Mario Ancic (Croatia) bt Agustin Calleri (Argentina) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; Yeu-Tzuoo Wang (Taiwan) bt Mariano Zabaleta (Argentina) 6-2, 7-5, 4-1 — Zabaleta retired; 4-David Nalbandian (Argentina) bt Danai Udomchoke (Thailand) 6-2, 6-2, 1-6, 6-7 (4-6), 6-1; 26-Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) bt Marc Kimmich (Australia) 6-2, 6-3, 6-1; Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) bt Justin Gimelstob (US) 7-6 (8-6), 7-5, 6-0; Lars Burgsmueller (Germany) bt Rainer Schuettler (Germany) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6-2), 6-3; Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) bt Albert Montanes (Spain) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-0; Jan Hernych (Czech Republic) bt Fernando Vicente (Spain) 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2; 11-David Ferrer (Spain) bt Florent Serra (France) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-4; Denis Gremelmayr (Germany) bt Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) 3-6, 6-2, 6-0, 6-1; Daniele Bracciali (Italy) bt Yen-Hsun Lu (Taiwan) 6-1, 7-6 (6-4), 6-2; 13-Robby Ginepri (US) bt Juergen Melzer (Austria) 6-1, 6-4, 6-2; 17-Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) bt Bjoern Rehnquist (Sweden) 6-1, 6-2, 6-2; 8-Gaston Gaudio (Argentina) bt Razvan Sabau (Romania) 6-2, 5-0 — Sabau retired.

Women’s singles:

First round: 13-Serena Williams (US) bt Na Li (China) 6-3, 6-7 (1-6), 6-2; Camille Pin (France) bt Mariana Diaz Oliva (Argentina) 2-6, 7-5, 6-4; Arantxa Parra (Spain) bt Tatiana Panova (Russia) 4-6, 7-5, 6-1; 18-Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) bt Lisa Raymond (US) 7-6 (6-4), 7-6 (7-5); Ekaterina Bychkova (Russia) bt 29-Klara Koukalova (Czech Republic) 6-1, 5-7, 6-2; Jelena Kostanic (Croatia) bt Mashona Washington (US) 6-1, 6-2; Virginia Ruano (Spain) bt Lourdes Dominguez (Spain) 6-2 7-6 (6-1); 8-Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium) bt Marta Domachowska (Poland) 6-2, 6-1; Maria Elena Camerin (Italy) bt Yvonne Meusburger (Austria) 6-4, 6-2; 14-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) bt Lauren Breadmore (Australia) 6-1, 6-3; Zuzana Ondraskova (Czech Republic) bt 28-Anabel Medina (Spain) 6-3, 6-4; Ashley Harkleroad (US) bt Shuai Peng (China) 6-4, 6-1; 4-Maria Sharapova (Russia) bt Sandra Kloesel (Germany) 6-2, 6-1; Galina Voskoboeva (Russia) bt Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Switzerland) 6-4, 6-3; Elena Vesnina (Russia) bt Ting Li (China) 6-2, 6-3; Laura Granville (US) bt Kathrin Woerle (Germany) 5-7, 6-2, 6-0; Tszvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) bt 10-Venus Williams (US) 2-6, 6-0, 9-7; 25-Maria Kirilenko (Russia) bt Evgenia Linetskaya (Russia) 6-1, 3-1 — Linetskaya retired; 23-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia and Montenegro) bt Jill Craybas (US) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4; Olga Savchuk (Ukraine) bt Tzipora Obziler (Israel) 6-1, 3-6, 6-4; Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) bt Stephanie Foretz (France) 6-4, 6-3; Virginie Razzano (France) bt Jelena Dokic (Australia) 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1; 6-Nadia Petrova (Russia) bt Sophie Ferguson (Australia) 6-2, 6-1; Mara Santangelo (Italy) bt 24-Tatiana Golovin (France) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; Conchita Martinez Granados (Spain) bt 26-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 6-4, 6-3; 17-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) bt Saori Obata (Japan) 3-6, 6-3, 6-0; Martina Mueller (Germany) bt Jarmila Gajdosova (Slovakia) 1-6, 6-2, 6-3; Karolina Sprem (Croatia) bt Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) 6-4, 6-2; Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzbekistan) bt Dally Randriantefy (Madagascar) 6-3, 2-6, 6-1; Julia Schruff (Germany) bt 9-Elena Dementieva (Russia) 7-5, 6-2;Hana Sromova (Czech Republic) bt Akiko Morigami (Japan) 3-0 — Morigami retired; 1-Lindsay Davenport (US) bt Casey Dell’Acqua (Australia) 6-2, 6-1.—Reuters