Angelique advances to Canberra 2nd round
Angelique advances to Canberra 2nd round
Agencies, Jakarta
Angelique Widjaja got off to a winning start at the Canberra
Classic women's tennis tournament after she beat Daja Bedanova of
the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-3 in the opening round on Monday.
Although the final score shows Angelique, ranked 72 against
Bedanova, who is 37 in the world, conceded only three games in
each set, scoring was tight, which is an indication of a tough
match, said Angelique's manager Virginia Rusli.
"Angie broke once in each set and on each occasion she
appeared to be able to break back en route to the victory. The
match lasted an hour and 25 minutes," Virginia said.
Angelique, who rounded her 2002 season with a win in Pattaya,
Thailand, will face Emilie Loit of France in the second round.
Loit beat Bryanne Stewart 6-4, 6-2.
Clarisa Fernandez, Angelique's doubles partner at the
tournament, also made it through to the next round. The third
seed from Argentina defeated Silvija Talaja of Croatia, also 6-3,
6-3.
In Sydney, former world number-two Conchita Martinez's poor
run of form continued on Monday when she was dumped from the
first round of the Sydney International tennis tournament by a
qualifier ranked 179th in the world.
The 1994 Wimbledon champion, who has won more than US$10
million in a career spanning almost 15 years, failed to overcome
the challenge of unfancied Olga Barabanschikova of Belarus.
Barabanschikova came from behind to defeat Martinez 2-6, 6-2,
6-2, at the Sydney International Tennis Center.
The Spaniard, 30, who slipped from her top five ranking in
2000, went down in two hours and 12 minutes.
The upset at the tournament, a traditional buildup to the
Australian Open in Melbourne later this month, continued when
Russian Elena Bovina beat her fifth seeded compatriot Anastasia
Myskina 6-3, 7-5.
Eighth-seeded Bulgarian Magdalena Maleeva overcame Italy's
Silvia Farina Elia 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 as both players struggled in
sweltering conditions on center court.
Maleeva said she overcame the heat and unfamiliarity with the
rebound ace surface to come back from 4-0 down in the second set
after losing the first.
"It's only my second day here so I was trying to get used to
the speed and the conditions and everything. Somehow I managed to
keep going and turn things around," she told Channel Seven.
On the men's side, Thomas Enqvist of Sweden disposed of South
African Wayne Ferreira in straight sets 6-2, 6-4. Neither were
seeded for the event.
Second seed Juan Carlos Ferrero was due to take on Australian
wildcard Jaymon Crabb late on Monday.