FILDERSTADT (Germany), Oct 9: French seeds Nathalie Tauziat and Amelie Mauresmo progressed to the second round of the Filderstadt Grand Prix women’s tennis tournament in contrasting styles on Monday.
Fifth seed Mauresmo quickly dispatched Daja Bedanova of the Czech Republic 6-3 6-1 while seventh seed Tauziat had to struggle to defeat American Lisa Raymond 6-4 3-6 6-3
The French pair were the only seeds on show on Monday. In the day’s other match, Bulgaria’s Magdalena Maleeva put out Spanish veteran Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario 7-5 7-5.
However, the tournament is not over for Sanchez-Vicario.
She will later team up with former number one Martina Navratilova in the doubles event.
The draw at Filderstadt has pitted the two veterans of the women’s tour against the pairing of world number one Martina Hingis and Russian Anna Kournikova.
American Meghann Shaughnessy became the first seed to bow out when she was beaten 6-3 6-4 by Spanish baseliner Magui Serna.
Eighth seed Shaughnessy fell far short of the form which helped her win the Quebec Challenge last month, struggling with her usually efficient serve and making many unforced errors.
Croatia’s Iva Majoli, who won the tournament in 1995 and was a wild card entrant this year, also went out, losing to Miriam Oremans of the Netherlands.
Qualifier Oremans recovered from the loss of the first set to beat the former French Open champion 5-7 6-2 6-3.
The top four seeds — Martina Hingis, Jennifer Capriati, Lindsay Davenport and Kim Clijsters — have byes into the second round of the $565,000 event.
First round results:
Nathalie Tauziat (Fra x7) bt Lisa Raymond (USA) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; Amelie Muresmo (Fra x5) Daja Bedanova (Cze) 6-3, 6-1; Magdalena Maleeva (Bul) bt Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (Spa) 7-5, 7-5; Magui Serna (Spa) bt Meghann Shaughnessy (USA x8) 6-3, 6-4; Miriam Oremans (Ned) bt Iva Majoli (Cro) 5-7, 6-2, 6-3; Magui Serna (Spa) bt Meghann Shaughnessy (USA x8) 6-3, 6-4; Miriam Oremans (Ned) bt Iva Majoli (Cro) 5-7, 6-2, 6-3; Chanda Rubin (USA) bt Barbara Schett (Aut) 6-2, 7-5.—Reuters/AFP