October 01, 2008	Wednesday	Shawwal 1, 1429

TOKYO, Sept 30: Japanese wild card entrant Ayumi Morita repeated her Olympic performance to beat Marina Erakovic of New Zealand in the first round of the Japan Open on Monday.

The 18-year-old Morita, who eliminated Erakovic in the first round in Beijing in August, needed just 69 minutes to score a 6-1, 6-4 victory.

In the second round, Morita will play either top seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark or Gisela Dulko of Argentina.While officials postponed matches on outside courts due to steady rain, those on the Ariake Coliseum centre court continued with the roof closed.

Marta Domachowska of Poland defeated another Japanese wild card, Aiko Nakamura, 6-4, 7-5, while Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, a quarter-finalist at the French Open, outclassed Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-3.

In the men’s action, American Amer Delic eliminated Japan’s Go Soeda 6-4, 6-2, while Takao Suzuki downed fellow Japanese Yuichi Sugita 6-3, 7-6 (8-6).

Lee Hyung-Taik of South Korea breezed past Japan’s Satoshi Iwabuchi 6-1, 6-4, and Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic defeated Mischa Zverev of Germany 7-6 (11-9), 2-6, 6-2.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Women’s (first round): 5-Kaia Kanepi (Estonia) bt Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; Ayumi Morita (Japan) bt Marina Erakovic (New Zealand) 6-1, 6-4; Marta Domachowska (Poland) bt Aiko Nakamura (Japan) 6-4, 7-5.

MOYA ADVANCES

METZ (France): Former world No 1 Carlos Moya beat Spanish compatriot Albert Montanes 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 on his debut at the Metz Open on Monday.

Moya, coming off his second final of the year at Bucharest this month, improved his record against Montanes to 2-1 in the first-round indoor match.

Results:

First round: Carlos Moya (Spain) bt Albert Montanes (Spain) 6-1, 4-6, 6-4; Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) bt 8-Mario Ancic (Croatia) 7-6(3), 6-4; Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) bt Jeremy Chardy (France) 7-6(5),

7-5; Jose Acasuso (Argentina) bt Guillermo Canas (Argentina) 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.

SERENA RETURNS

STUTTGART (Germany): Serena Williams would happily forgo the US$100,000 prize money that goes to the winner of the Stuttgart Grand Prix in Stuttgart.

She’d much rather drive off in the bright red convertible parked courtside.

The tournament gives the winner a choice — either a cash prize or a low-slung Porsche 911 sports car.

Serena, returning to action for the first time since beating Jelena Jankovic in the final of the US Open three weeks ago and regaining the world No 1 ranking, knows which she’d prefer.

Serena had a first-round bye and will play Li Na in her opener.

Results:

First round: Sybille Bammer (Austria) bt Tatjana Malek (Germany) 4-6, 6-2, 7-5; Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) bt Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) 7-6(5) 6-1; Li Na (China) bt Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) 6-1, 6-2.—Agencies