September 12, 2007	Wednesday	Sha'aban 29, 1428

BEIJING, Sept 11: World number seven Fernando Gonzalez made hard work of it but finally snared his first win since June with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory over Austrian Alexander Peya in the opening round of the China Open on Monday.

The second seeded Chilean had lost his opening match at all four tournaments since a third round defeat at Wimbledon, including in the first round of the US Open two weeks ago.

For a while, though, he looked like extending his losing streak, frequently letting his dogged opponent off the hook with poor shot selection and showing few glimpses of the form that took him to the final of the Australian Open in January.

Peya, 147 places below his opponent in the world rankings, broke Gonzalez’s first service and held his own with little trouble to go a set up as his fellow 27-year-old struggled to find any sort of rhythm.

The Chilean grunted up some more power and looked to be on track for the kind of comfortable victory the crowd expected when he broke Peya in the second game of the second set.

He continued to labour through his next four service games, however, before evening up the match courtesy of one of several successful Hawkeye challenges over the one hour and 56 minutes of the contest.

A break at 2-2 in the decider put Gonzalez in the driving seat but again he conspired to blow his advantage as he was serving for the match, slashing the ball into the stands in frustration after going long to hand Peya a break back.

That galvanised him, however, and he cantered through the next two games for his first win since his second round victory over Alejandro Falla at Wimbledon on June 27.

Sixth seed Lee Hyung-Taik of South Korea also progressed to the second round of the $500,000 tournament with a comfortable 6-4, 6-3 victory over Gonzalez’s compatriot Adrian Garcia.

Monday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

8-Igor Kunitsyn (RUS) bt Sun Peng (CHN) 6-2, 7-6(7); 2-Fernando Gonzalez (CHL) bt Alexander Peya (AUT) 3-6, 6-3, 7-5; Bjoern Phau (GER) bt Davide Sanguinetti (ITA) 5-7, 7-6(9), 6-2; 6-Lee Hyung-Taik (KOR) bt Adrian Garcia (CHL) 6-4, 6-3; Paul Capdeville (CHL) bt Danai Udomchoke (THA) 6-2, 6-2; Kevin Kim (US) bt Yu Xin-Yuan (CHN) 6-3, 7-5.

DAVENPORT RETURNS

SUCCESSFULLY

NUSA DUA (Indonesia): New mum Lindsay Davenport eased her way into her first singles tournament in a year with a businesslike doubles victory on Monday on the opening day of the Bali International.

Former world number one Davenport, now ranked 112 and playing on a wild card, is returning to the WTA Tour just three months after giving birth, with Bali her first singles tournament since Beijing almost a year ago.

The Californian now opens in the first round against Greek fifth seed Eleni Daniilidou.

She warmed up by teaming with Daniela Hantuchova for a comfortable straight-set win over Sophie Lefevre of France and Turkey’s Ipek Senoglu.

In first round singles matches, Edina Gallovits of Russia overcame Slovak Jarmila Gajdosova while Elise Tamaela of the Netherlands battled past American Jill Craybas in three sets.Top seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and number two Hantuchova of Slovakia have been given first round byes.

Asian hopes were dented when Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei was crushed 6-0, 6-0 by Youlia Fedossova of France, although Japan’s Ayumi Morita and China’s Meng Yuan made it through the final round of qualifying.

Monday’s results:

First round: Youlina Fedossova (FRA) bt Hsieh Su-wei (TPE) 6-0, 6-0; Edina Gallovits (RUS) bt Jarmila Gajdosova (SVK) 6-1, 6-0; Elise Tamaela (NED) bt Jill Craybas (US) 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2.

Qualifying for first round: Julie Ditty (US) bt Lavinia Tananta (INA) 6-4, 6-3; Sorana Cirstea (ROU) bt Alina Jidkova (RUS) 6-2, 6-4; Ayumi Morita (JPN) bt Andreja Klepac (SLO) 6-1, 1-6, 6-1; Meng Yuan (CHN) bt Anne Keothavong (GBR) 6-1, 7-5.—Agencies