October 12, 2006	Thursday	Ramazan 18, 1427

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BANGKOK, Oct 11: Second seed Anabel Medina Garrigues battled with injury for three hours before losing 6-7 6-3 6-4 to unseeded Argentine Mariana Diaz-Oliva in the first round of the Bangkok Open on Wednesday.

Diaz-Oliva, who will retire this week after 14 years in the sport, said she was determined not to make the match her last and praised her gritty opponent for trying to overcome a thigh problem.

“I was quite emotional before I went on court, I thought maybe it was my last match,” world number 219 Diaz-Oliva told reporters.

“She wasn't running very well but she was always fighting, that's her nature, she never gives up. She's a tough opponent but I wanted to win.”

Alicia Molik's bid to climb back up the rankings suffered another setback when the former world number eight from Australia went out 6-1 7-5 to American Vania King.

Third seed Nathalie Dechy of France defeated China's Zi Yan 6-4 6-4 while number five Eleni Daniilidou of Greece ousted Taiwan's Su-Wei Hsieh 4-6 6-4 6-3.

Croatia's Jelena Kostanic, the eighth seed, also went through with a 5-7 6-4 7-6 win over China's Meng Yuan.

Results:

Women's (first round): 9-Severine Bremond (France) beat Ryoko Fuda (Japan) 6-2 2-6 7-5; Aiko Nakamura (Japan) beat Nudnida Luangnam (Thailand) 6-1 6-4; 3-Nathalie Dechy (France) beat Zi Yan (China) 6-4 6-4; Klara Zakopalova (Czech Republic) beat Tiantian Sun (China) 6-4 4-6 6-3; Mariana Diaz Oliva (Argentina) beat 2-Anabel Medina (Spain) 6-7(4) 6-3 6-4; 5-Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) beat Su-Wei Hsieh (Taiwan) 4-6 6-4 6-3; Erika Takao (Japan) beat Alina Jidkova (Russia) 6-3 6-1; 8-Jelena Kostanic (Croatia) beat Meng Yuan (China) 5-7 6-4 7-6(5); Vania King (U.S.) beat Alicia Molik (Australia) 6-1 7-5.

MOSCOW: Kremlin Cup results

Men’s (second round): Igor Kunitsyn (RUS) bt Jan Hernych (CZE) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2; Nikolay Davydenko (RUS x1) bt Teimuraz Gabashvili (RUS) 6-4, 6-2.

First round: Konstantin Kravchuk (RUS) bt Hyung-Taik Lee (KOR) 6-4, 6-4; Max Mirnyi (BLR) bt Kevin Kim (USA) 6-0, retd; Janko Tipsarevic (SER) bt Paul-Henri Matthieu (FRA x8) 7-6 (10/8), 6-4; Fabrice Santoro (FRA x7) bt Wesley Moodie (RSA) 6-3, 6-2.Women (second round):

Maria Sharapova (RUS x2) bt Ekaterina Bychkova (RUS) 6-4, 7-5; Vera Zvonareva (RUS) bt Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x3) 6-1, 6-3

First round: Patty Schnyder (SWI x6) bt Chanda Rubin (USA) 6-3, 6-0; Samantha Stosur (AUS) bt Emmanuelle Gagliardi (SWI) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Nadia Petrova (RUS x5) bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER) 6-2, 6-2.—Agencies