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TOKYO, Jan 30: Second seed Jelena Dokic looked rusty in her first match of 2003 but shook off a potentially embarrassing start to beat Indonesian Angelique Widjaja 7-6 6-4 at the $1.3 million Pan Pacific Open on Thursday.
Dokic, who received a first-round bye, lost the first five games of the match and, after battling back to 5-4, faced four set points while serving in the 10th game of an error-strewn first set at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
Luckily for Dokic, stage fright struck Widjaja at the worst possible moment and the wildcard failed to seize her opportunities, allowing the Yugoslav to hold serve.
Widjaja paid for her lack of conviction and Dokic, now based in Florida after several years in Australia, went on to take the set 7-4 on the tiebreak with a crunching overhead into the corner.
Dokic, who skipped the Australian Open for the second year running, never looked back and secured the decisive break in the 10th game with an unreturnable forehand on her first match point.
Results:
Second round: Lisa Raymond bt Magdalena Maleeva 2-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-2; Lindsay Davenport bt Iva Majoli 6-4 6-4; Lina Krasnoroutskaya bt Elena Bovina 6-7 (10-12) 7-6 (9-7) 6-2; Jelena Dokic bt Angelique Widjaja 7-6 (7-4) 6-4; Tamarine Tanasugarn bt Silvia Farina Elia 6-7 (4-7) 7-5 6-1; Elena Dementieva bt Stephanie Cohen Aloro 6-2 6-2
MILAN: Dutchman Richard Krajicek fought off three match points to beat Czech Radek Stepanek 3-6 6-3 7-6 and advance to the quarterfinals of the Milan Indoors tournament on Wednesday.
But there was an upset as third seed Younes El Aynaoui, playing his first match since his marathon, five hour, five-set quarter-final defeat to Andy Roddick in the Australian Open, fell in the first round to Italian Andrea Gaudenzi 7-5 6-3.
The Moroccan’s defeat means none of the top three seeds have made it past the second round in Milan.
Krajicek trailed after losing the first set but bounced back to take the second before a dramatic 15-13 tie-break win in the third set.
Stepanek had made it into the second round after eliminating compatriot and top seed Jiri Novak on Monday and once again showed his talent and determination.
Jarkko Nieminen had to work hard to make it into the last eight with a three set win over France’s Anthony Dupuis.
In a remaining first round match Italian Davide Sanguinetti, winner of last year’s event, comfortably beat compatriot Giorgio Galimberti in straight sets.
Galimberti, was standing in as a ‘lucky loser’ after French number six seed Fabrice Santoro pulled out at the last minute citing tiredness.
First round: Andrea Gaudenzi bt Younes El Aynaoui 7-5 6-3; Davide Sanguinetti bt Giorgio Galimberti 6-2 6-4
Second round: Richard Krajicek bt Radek Stepanek 3-6 6-3 7-6 (15-13); Martin Verkerk bt Thomas Enquist 6-3 6-4; Jarko Nieminen bt Anthony Dupuis 7-6 (7-4) 2-6 6-4.—Reuters
