Dokic makes early exit in Bali with first-round loss to Garbin
Dokic makes early exit in Bali with first-round loss to Garbin
Agencies, Nusa Dua, Bali
Yugoslavia's fourth seed Jelena Dokic was an early casualty at
the US$225,000 WTA tournament here on Tuesday, falling 7-5, 6-3
to Tathiana Garbin of Italy in the first round, AFP reported.
Garbin was more consistent than Dokic, whose erratic play
reached a climax when she served three consecutive double faults
while serving for the first set at 5-4.
Dokic broke serve in the first game of the second set but
Garbin pulled herself back into the set to break Dokic's service
twice and take the victory.
"I had chances to win the match, even if I lost in two
(sets)," said Dokic, who has still not decided whether she will
play at the Australian Open next January. "I had big leads and I
let them go. I beat myself more than she beat me. It's just up
and down, on and off in the match. That's the problem."
Fifth seed Tamarine Tanasugarn claimed the first 6-0, 6-0
scoreline of her career when she overwhelmed Australia's Nicole
Pratt in just 44 minutes.
Tanasugarn has been in fine form recently having beaten
Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova at the US Open to earn an audience
with the King of Thailand.
"It was the happiest day of my life. It was something I was
dreaming about," said Tanasugarn. "I think I'm going back again
with Paradorn (Srichaphan).
"With the match today, I knew Nicole is very tough and never
gives up so I focused 200 percent. It's not easy to keep this
level all the time, and my goal is to keep it as high as possible
and concentrate on one match at a time."
Another seed to fall was France's Emilie Loit, the seventh
seed, who was ousted 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 by Ivana Abramovic of
Croatia.
Non-ranked Jie Zheng of China set up another upset on the day
with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Flavia Penneta of Italy, No. 58 player.
In other matches, Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany beat Chinese
Tian Tian Sun 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1.
Ninth seed Maria Sanchez Lorenzo of Spain stopped Sarah Taylor
of the United States 6-1, 6-4 while Emmanuelle Gagliardi of
Switzerland edged out American Corina Morariu 6-4, 6-3.
Meanwhile, Yayuk Basuki and Diana Julianto's doubles campaign
crashed after they were defeated by Evie Dominikovic
(Australia)/Anna Lena Gronefeld (Germany 1-6, 2-6, according to
Antara.