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.