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INDIAN WELLS, California, March 8: Israel’s Anna Smashnova rediscovered her winning form Thursday to dismiss American Melissa Middleton 6-4 6-3 in the first round of the Indian Wells Masters.
The victory marked the 25-year-old Israeli’s first win on the WTA Tour since lifting the Auckland and Canberra titles in January.
American Amy Frazier, who reached the semifinals in her first ever appearance at the tournament in 1990, also reached the second round with a hard fought 3-6 6-3 6-3 win over Spain’s Nuria Llagoster Vives.
Iva Majoli’s slow start to the season continued as the former-French Open champion was dispatched 7-6 6-1 by her Italian doubles partner Virginie Razzano.
RAIN DISRUPTS PLAY
DELRAY BEACH (Florida): Rain disrupted Andy Roddick’s march through the $400,000 International Tennis Championships Thursday, washing out his second round match with South Korea’s Lee Hyung-taik.
Only two matches were finished on a rainy day in the Sunshine State, leaving top seed Roddick with potentially two matches to get through on Friday.
Italian fifth seed Davide Sanguinetti eased into the quarter-finals with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Kristian Pless of Denmark.
But Austrian eighth seed Markus Hipfl came unstuck, falling 6-3 6-4 to unheralded Frenchman Michael Llodra.
RESULTS:
Michael Llodra (France) bt Markus Hipfl (Austria) 6-3 6-4; Davide Sanguinetti (Italy) bt Kristian Pless (Denmark) 6-3 6-2.
Hingis injured
INDIAN WELLS (California): Second seed Martina Hingis was forced to withdraw from the doubles at the Indian Wells Masters on Thursday due to tendonitis in her right wrist leaving her participation in the $2.1 million tournament in doubt.
First Round Results
Amy Frazier (U.S.) bt Vives Nuria Llagostera (Spain) 3-6 6-3 6-3; Anna Smashnova (Israel) bt Melissa Middleton (U.S.) 6-4 6-3; Janette Husarova (Slovakia) bt Ludmila Cervanova (Slovakia) 6-3 6-4; Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Switzerland) bt Asa Svensson (Sweden) 6-4 6-0; Marta Marrero (Spain) bt Rachel McQuillan (Australia) 6-4 6-3—Reuters
