Stevenson Falls As Qualifying Begins
by Prip
The first day of qualifying saw few surprises at the adidas
International in Sydney. Only into the second week of the tour
in the new millennium, many players are playing in their first
tournament of the year in preparation for the first Grand Slam
of the year, the Australian Open in Melbourne.
The Aussie crowd had reason to cheer as wildcard Bryanne Stewart
got through the first round against Antonella Serra-Zanetti. Jaslyn
Hewitt came up short against Dragana Zaric, losing 6-4 3-6 6-1.
Dragana continues her efforts to establish herself in WTA tournaments,
playing explosive but streaky tennis. Next up for the Yugoslavian
girl will be another young hopeful, fourth seed Tina
Pisnik, who won her match against Mariana Diaz Oliva comfortably in
straight sets.
The other 2 local wildcard entrants also fell short. Jenny
Belobrajdic lost to fiery Frenchwoman Emilie Loit who had been
struggling to get through qualifying all year last year. The Aussie's
strong serve gave her a total of 8 aces, but committed too many
unforced errors. The experience was definitely on Emilie's side, and
she managed to get away with 9 out of 11 break points against her.
Playing her usual attacking net game, the Frenchwoman got a 6-3 1-6
6-3 first-round victory. Trudi Musgrave didn't fare as well, losing
to heavy-hitting Sandra Nacuk 6-3 6-1 in under an hour.
Top seed Nadejda Petrova defeated Lubomira Bacheva 6-3 6-2 despite
having a dismal first serve percentage at 48% and committing a total
of 10 double-faults and 34 unforced errors in the match. She managed
to hang tough when it mattered though, and converted 4 out of 8 break
points as opposed to 1 out of 7 for Lubomira. Second seed Silvia
Farina is still playing in the Gold Coast and was replaced in the draw
by Marie-Eve Pelletier. Third seed Aubrie Rippner
went through comfortably against Daniela Hantuchova.
Sixth and seventh seeds Alexandra Stevenson and Cristina Torrens
Valero both failed to get through their matches. Alexandra lost her
match to German Bianka Lamade, only getting 5 games in the whole
match. She characteristically managed to serve three aces and 7
double-faults, and had 21 winners against Bianka's 14, but a whopping
38 unforced errors tipped the scale compared to the German's 13.
Cristina could have been forgiven a little for losing against Martina
Sucha, the Slovakian who had had a good end of last year's season
after an unremarkable year.The Slovakian played a relatively clean
match, managing to keep her focus well, and came out with a 6-3 6-4
victory.
Jelena Kostanic's woes continue, with a
straight-set loss to Elena Bovina. The Croat, now suffering with a wrist injury, had trouble
keeping the ball in the court against the towering Russian. A lot of
her shots were landing just long, driving the youngster to frustration.
Her game continues to metamorphosise, and the changes are strikingly
obvious. One thing definitely working to her disadvantage though is
her footwork. The youngster has been working on gaining strength, and
had gained considerable muscle mass in the last year, but is now
sporting some unwanted baggage.
With rain putting a stop to play towards the end, fifth seed Giulia
Casoni will have to wait for her match against Maria Alejandra Vento
and Janette Husarova would have an extra day to prepare against
German Angelika Bachmann. Alica Canepa (who had replaced eighth seed
Emmanuelle Gagliardi) was struggling against Louise Latimer when the
heavens poured, and looked somewhat thankful for the break.
- Nadejda PETROVA (1) [RUS] def. Lubomira BACHEVA [BUL] 6-3 6-2
- Emilie LOIT [FRA] def. Jenny Belobrajdic [AUS]-(WC) 6-3 1-6 6-3
- Bryanne STEWART [AUS]-(WC) def. Antonella SERRA-ZANETTI 7-5 6-2
- Martina SUCHA [SVK] def. Cristina TORRENS VALERO (7) [ESP] 6-3 6-4
- Marie-Eve PELLETIER [CAN] vs. Andrea GLASS [GER]
- Elena BOVINA [RUS] def. Jelena KOSTANIC [CRO] 6-4 6-3
- Alena Vaskova [CZE] def. Renata Kolbovic [CAN] 6-2 1-6 7-6(5)
- Bianka LAMADE [GER] def. Alexandra STEVENSON (6) [USA] 6-1 6-4
- Brie RIPPNER (3) [USA] def. Daniela HANTUCHOVA [SVK] 6-2 6-4
- Sandra NACUK [YUG] def. Trudi Musgrave [AUS]-(WC) 6-3 6-1
- Erika DE LONE [USA] def. Maja Palaversic [CRO] 7-5 6-3
- Louise LATIMER [GBR] leads Alice CANEPA [ITA] 6-2 2-1(40-30)
- Tina PISNIK (4) [SLO] def. Mariana DIAZ-OLIVA [ARG] 6-2 6-3
- Dragana ZARIC [YUG] def. Jaslyn HEWITT [AUS]-(WC) 6-4 3-6 6-1
- Janette HUSAROVA [SVK] vs. Angelika BACHMANN [GER]
- Giulia CASONI (5) [ITA] vs. Maria Alejandra VENTO [VEN]
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https://tennis-ontheline.com/01syd01.htm © 2025
Last updated 26 September 2015
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