HONG KONG, Jan 2: French star Mary Pierce moved elegantly into the semifinals of the Hong Kong Ladies Challenge here after a hard fought 6-4, 7-6 comeback victory over Austrian Barbara Schett.
Pierce, now ranked a lowly 130 in the world, showed a few signs of rust in her first competitive match back after missing the last seven months of last season with chronic back injuries.
Results: Mary Pierce (Fra) bt Barbara Schett (Aut) 6-4, 7-6; Amanda Coetzer (SA) bt Lina Krasnoroutskaya (Rus) 6-4, 7-5.
GOLD COAST:American Venus Williams made a winning start to her Australian campaign on Wednesday with a 6-0 6-4 victory over Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder in the Australian women’s hardcourt championship.
The world number three and top seed, who had a bye through to Wednesday’s second round, landed seven aces in the 52-minute match as players and fans battled high temperatures at the Gold Coast in Queensland.
Results:
Second round
1-Venus Williams (U.S.) beat Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) 6-0 6-4; 5-Silvia Farina-Elia (Italy) beat Cho Yoon-jeong (South Korea) 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 6-3; Anca Barna (Germany) beat Nicole Pratt (Australia) 6-3 2-6 6-1
Second round 3-Anne Kremer (Luxembourg) beat Barbara Schwarz (Austria) 6-2 6-4; 5-Tatiana Panova (Russia) beat Seda Noorlander (Netherlands) 6-4 6-2; Anna Kournikova (Russia) beat 7-Amy Frazier (United States) 6-4 6-1; Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Switzerland) beat Kristina Brandi (United States) 2-6 6-2 6-3; Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) beat Selima Sfar (Tunisia) 6-3 7-5. First round: 2-Henrieta Nagyova (Slovakia) beat Kveta Hrdlickova (Czech Republic) 7-5 6-2.
MADRAS:Second round results.
2-Thomas Johansson (Sweden) beat Olivier Rochus (Belgium) 4-6 6-3 6-4; 4-Andrei Pavel (Romania) beat Stefano Galvani (Italy) 6-3 6-3
DOHA:Second round results:
Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) beat 2-Goran Ivanisevic (Croatia) 7-6 (7-4) 6-2; 8-Felix Mantilla (Spain) beat Oleg Ogorodov (Uzbekistan) 7-6 (7-0) 6-4.—AFP/Reuters
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