COMMACK (New York), Aug 20: Former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek rolled past Slovakia’s Dominik Hrbaty 6-1, 6-2, in Monday night’s feature match at the ATP tennis tournament here.
Krajicek is continuing his comeback after taking off almost two years to recover from an elbow injury. Two weeks ago, the unseeded Dutchman lost in the third round at Cincinnati. His best effort this season is a quarterfinal appearance at Wimbledon.
Despite being ranked a career high No 3, Haas has yet to win a title this season. He was runner-up to Andre Agassi at the Tennis Masters Series event in Rome.
Pete Sampras will open his campaign here against France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu, a 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) winner over Argentina’s Guillermo Coria on Monday.
Monday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):
First round: Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) beat Guillermo Coria (Argentina) 6-1, 7-6 (7-4); Jeff Morrison (US) beat Jerome Golmard (France) 6-2, 7-6 (7-3); Kevin Kim (US) beat Alexander Popp (Germany) 6-2, 6-4; Flavio Saretta (Brazil) beat David Sanchez (Spain) 3-6, 6-4, 6-2; Jan Vacek (Czech Republic) beat Andrea Gaudenzi (Italy) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4); Bohdan Ulihrach (Czech Republic) beat Fernando Lopez (Spain) 6-3, 6-2; Attila Savolt (Hungary) beat Paul Hanley (Australia) 6-4, 7-5; Alberto Martin (Spain) beat Albert Montanes (Spain) 7-6 (7-2), 6-2; Richard Krajicek (Netherlands) beat Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) 6-1, 6-2; Adrian Voinea (Romania) beat Francisco Clavet (Spain) 6-2, 6-1.
NEW HAVEN (Connecticut): A rusty Martina Hingis needed six match points to finally close out a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Anna Smashnova in the first round of the New Haven Open Monday.
In another first round match, German qualifier Angelika Roesch claimed her second victory this year over eighth seeded Russian Elena Dementieva, winning 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.
She now faces American qualifier Laura Granville for the right to meet top seed and defending champion Venus Williams or Meghann Shaughnessy.
Granville beat Daja Bedanova 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, and there was victory for as Elena Bovina outlasted Lisa Raymond 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Monday’s results:
First round: Alexandra Stevenson (US) beat Jelena Kostanic (Croatia) 6-3, 7-5; Angelika Roesch (Germany) beat 8-Elena Dementieva (Russia) 6-3, 1-6, 6-3; Elena Bovina (Russia) beat Lisa Raymond (US) 4-6, 6-1, 6-2; Laura Granville (US) beat Daja Bedanova (Czech Republic) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1; 5-Martina Hingis (Switzerland) beat Anna Smashnova (Israel) 6-4, 6-4.—AFP/Reuters