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BALI, Sept 15: Alicia Molik’s comeback from illness faltered on Thursday when she was beaten in the second round of the Bali International by Ukrainian Alyona Bondarenko. The third-seeded Australian, who missed several months after suffering a virus that upset her balance, was beaten 6-4 6-2.
Fifth seed Anna-Lena Groenefeld from Germany also lost, going down 6-3 1-6 6-1 to Japan’s Aiko Nakamura who now faces second seed Patty Schnyder.
Molik, who has played only five matches since April while claiming just one victory, clearly lacked match fitness against a consistent if unspectacular opponent.
The only positive aspect of the match for Molik was when she recovered from 1-5, held off five set points and came within two points of levelling the set at 5-5 before a forehand error ended a long rally and the set.
In the second set the Ukrainian built a 4-0 lead and Molik showed no signs of being able to recover from that position.
Schnyder overcame Spain’s Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-2 6-3 but it was an untidy match with little rhythm and Schnyder was flattered by the score.
Results:
Patty Schnyder bt Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-2 6-3; Aiko Nakamura bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-3 1-6 6-1; Alyona Bondarenko bt Alicia Molik 6-4 6-2; Flavia Pennetta bt Jie Zheng 4-6 6-3 6-3; Maria Elena Camerin bt Ekaterina Bychkova 6-4 6-3.
Rain wipes out play
BEIJING: Top seed Rafael Nadal and number two Guillermo Coria both face two matches on Friday as the US$500,000 China Open catches up after rain wiped out play on Thursday.—Agencies
