January 02, 2008	Wednesday	Zilhaj 22, 1428

GOLD COAST (Australia), Jan 1: Top seed Nicole Vaidisova survived a first-round scare from Australia’s Casey Dellacqua, winning in three sets at the Australian Women’s Hardcourt tennis tournament here on Tuesday.

The 18-year-old Czech looked out of sorts and made loads of unforced errors against the 78th-ranked Australian wild card, but hung on to win the match, 5-7, 7-5, 6-0.

Vaidisova will face either Aiko Nakamura of Japan or Germany’s Tatjana Malek in the second round.

Earlier, Austria’s Sybille Bammer became the third seeded player to lose in the first round when she was beaten by Li Na of China, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

In other matches, Italy’s Flavia Pennetta defeated Swiss qualifier Timea Bacsinszky, 6-4, 6-1, Germany’s Julia Schruff beat Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain, 6-2, 6-1 and Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia defeated France’s Virginie Razzano, 6-2, 6-2.

Results (x denotes seeding):

First round: Tatjana Malek (GER) bt Aiko Nakamura (JPN) 7-5, 6-3; Monique Adamczak (AUS) bt Elena Vesnina (RUS) 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 7-5; Li Na (CHN) bt Sybille Bammer (AUT x7) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; Flavia Pennetta (ITA) bt Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) 6-4, 6-1; Julia Schruff (GER) bt Lourdes Dominguez Lino (ESP) 6-2, 6-1; Nicole Vaidisova (CZE x1) bt Casey Dellacqua (AUS) 5-7, 7-5, 6-0; Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) bt Virginie Razzano (FRA) 6-2, 6-2.

Second round: Victoria Azarenka (BLR) bt Yuliana Fedak (UKR) 6-4, 6-2.

HEWITT TAMES SELA

ADELAIDE: Top seed Lleyton Hewitt cruised to an emphatic straight sets victory over Israel’s Dudi Sela in his first match at the Australian men’s hardcourt championship here on Tuesday.

The former world No 1, now ranked 21, had few problems in disposing of the 64th-ranked Dudi, winning 6-2, 6-2 in just 66 minutes before his home crowd at Memorial Drive.

Hewitt will next play Argentina’s Jose Acasuso, who ousted Colombian Alejandro Falla in straight sets.

French eighth seed Sebastien Grosjean crashed out earlier in the day to American Vincent Spadea, losing 6-4, 1-6, 3-6. Grosjean, ranked 53, won the opening set, but put up little fight as world No 77 Spadea motored to victory in three sets.

Australian Chris Guccione advanced to the second round with a straight sets win over American Wayne Odesnik.

Guccione, ranked 91, edged out the 127th-ranked Odesnik 7-5, 7-6 (7/5) in temperatures hovering around 40 degrees Celsius. French second seed Paul-Henri Mathieu beat his compatriot Julien Benneteau 7-6 (7/2), 7-5.

In other matches, Finland’s third seed Jarkko Nieminen ousted Slovakia’s Ivo Klec 6-2, 6-4 and France’s sixth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga accounted for Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

Results:

First round: Jarkko Nieminen (FIN x3) bt Ivo Klec (SVK) 6-2, 6-4; Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA x2) bt Julien Benneteau (FRA) 7-6 (7/2), 7-5; Chris Guccione (AUS) bt Wayne Odesnik (US) 7-5, 7-6 (7/5); Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA x6) bt Victor Hanescu (ROM) 6-3, 4-6, 7-5; Evgeny Korolev (RUS) bt Alun Jones (AUS) 6-2, 7-6 (7/5); Vincent Spadea (US) bt Sebastien Grosjean (FRA x8) 4-6, 6-1, 6-3; Lleyton Hewitt (AUS x1) bt Dudi Sela (ISR) 6-2, 6-2; Jose Acasuso (ARG) bt Alejandro Falla (COL) 6-3, 7-6 (7/3).

ZVONAREVA WINS

AUCKLAND: Top seed Vera Zvonareva made a confident start to her bid for a first singles title in 18 months as she beat New Zealand wildcard Sacha Jones 6-0, 6-1 in the first round of the Auckland Classic on Tuesday.

The Russian made light of a tricky wind and was far too good for Jones as she romped into round two.

The 17-year-old Jones was thoroughly outclassed as Zvonareva made an impressive start to set up a clash with Swede Sofia Arvidsson.

Second seed Maria Kirilenko joined her compatriot in round two with a hard-fought 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.

However, there was a surprise defeat for fourth seed Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands as she went down 7-5 6-7 6-2 to Sara Errani of Italy, the world No 161.

Results:

First round: Aravane Rezai (FRA) bt Zhang Shuai (CHN) 6-3, 6-3; Vera Zvonareva (RUS x1) bt Sacha Jones (NZL) 6-0, 6-1; Eleni Daniilidou (GRE x7) bt Elena Baltacha (GBR) 6-1, 6-2; Camille Pin (FRA) bt Martina Muller (GER) 6-3, 6-1; Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) bt Ahsha Rolle (US) 6-4, 7-5; Sara Errani (ITA) bt Michaella Krajicek (NED x4) 7-5, 6-7 (4/7), 6-2; Pauline Parmentier (FRA) bt Vesna Manasieva (RUS) 6-0, 7-5; Marina Erakovic (NZL) bt Ellen Barry (NZL) 6-1, 6-1; Maria Kirilenko (RUS x2) bt Kaia Kanepi (EST) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.

Nadal Beaten

CHENNAI: World No 2 Rafael Nadal made a losing start to his new season on Monday when he and his partner Bartolome Salva-Vidal were defeated in their opening doubles match at the Chennai Open.

The French Open champion dropped serve once in each set as the 2007 finalists went down 6-4, 6-4 against the first-time pairing of Cypriot Marcus Baghdatis, the singles second seed, and Marc Gicquel of France.

Defending champion Belgian Xavier Malisse returned after an injury-marred 2007 to ease to a 6-4, 6-3 win over Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.

Results:

Singles:

First round: Xavier Malisse (BEL) bt Gilles Muller (LUX) 6-4, 6-3; Jurgen Melzer (AUT x6) bt Paul Capdeville (CHI) 6-2, 6-4; Florent Serra (FRA) bt Ivan Navarro (ESP) 6-4, 7-6 (8/6); Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) bt Vishnu Vardhan (IND) 6-1, 6-2; Mikhail Youzhny (RUS x4) bt Jiri Vanek (CZE) 6-3, 6-2.

Doubles:

First round: Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)-Marc Gicquel (FRA) bt Rafael Nadal-Bartolome Salva-Vidal (ESP) 6-4, 6-4.

—Agencies