2010 Tuesday news

AEGON International | Eastbourne

Rezai delivers KO punch to Woz

Defending champion Caroline Wozniacki became the first casualty in a day of shock opening round exit for many of the big guns, beaten 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 by Aravane Rezai.

The 19-year-old Dane found the blustery conditions on the opening Centre Court match almost as tricky as Rezai (pictured left) who glittered in her striking silver kit.

But top seed Wozniacki lost her composure at 4-4 to gift the French ace the opening set. And after Rezai called for her coach after taking the lead, Wozniacki raised her game to comfortably reel off the second set in style despite querying a number of line calls with the umpire.

Rezai upped the tempo from the start of the decisive set, and served 10 aces overall to grab victory with her second match point.

Stunned Wozniacki admitted: "She tried to take the ball early and hit every shot. I'd like to have got some more matches here, but I just need to keep my head up and play some practice matches to prepare for Wimbledon."

?Another former Eastbourne champion, no4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, made a shock exit in the opening round. 

The Pole who won at Devonshire Park in 2008 faced Viki Azarenka (pictured right) in the first match of the day on Court No1 and after losing a tight opening set on the tiebreak lost all heart and form. The part American-based and part Paris-based Belarussian upped her game to attack Radwanska and steamroll to a 7-6, 6-1 success.

With two former champions knocked out so early in the day, the 2005 Eastbourne winner Kim Clijsters (pictured below) was next up on court. However, the battling Belgian was menacing from the off against 20-year-old Fed Cup team-mate Yanina Wickmayer and stormed to a 6-1, 6-1 victory, much to the delight of the sparse Centre Court crowd. 

Clijsters, whose previous match on grass was her 2006 Wimbledon semi-final defeat, ran away with the first set in 19 minutes but took 35 minutes to seal the second set.

Clijsters said: "From the beginning on I was very aggressive and really trying to go for the lines a lot, but Yanina wasn't playing at her best." 

Nadia Petrova, a regular at Eastbourne, looked likely to suffer a swift exit on the outside courts against Croatian qualifier Karolina Sprem. After a slow start and staring defeat in the face, the strong Russian rallied back and with the support of a vocal crowd took Sprem to a decisive third set tiebreak. 

Petrova, who has a fantastic record at Devonshire Park, sealed success 7-4 in the tiebreak to register a 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 victory.

?And two other Russians booked their places in the next round. Qualifier Ekaterina Makarova was stunning on grass with her serve and volley tactics to see off Italian no6 seed Flavia Pennetta 7-6, 6-1. Then 2004 Eastbourne champion Svetlana Kuznetsova (pictured right) defeated Alisa Kleybanova in a topsy-turvy all Russian encounter 4-6 7-5 6-2.

Newly-crowned French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, the no2 seed, looked jaded on grass after her exploits on the Paris clay. Pretty Romanian Sorana Cirstea took full advantage to give the Italian the runaround and registered an impressive 7-5, 6-3 win.  

Israeli no1 Shahar Peer, who is fighting to break into the world's top 10 for the first time, continued her woeful string of results at Eastbourne with a shockingly poor performance after zooming past Jie Zheng in the opening set. But Zheng (pictured left) bounced back with aplomb and a change of tactics to record a worthy 1-6 6-1 6-3 triumph.

Rare British victories were the order of the day. Guernsey-based Heather Watson got the ball rolling by scything past Canadian Alex Wozniak in straight sets 6-3 6-2, which means Watson will break into the world's top 250 for the first time. And British no1 Elena Baltacha, a wildcard entry, was gifted a second round slot after Chinese ace Li Na retired in the final match of the day on CentreCourt despite winning the first set tiebreak.

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Matches played

11:30    V.Azarenka defeated A.Radwanska 7-6 6-1
11:30    A.Rezai defeated C.Wozniacki 6-4 1-6 6-3
12:45    N.Petrova defeated K.Sprem 2-6 7-5 7-6                         
12:45    E.Makarova defeated F.Pennetta 7-6 6-1                    
14:00    K.Clijsters defeated Y.Wickmayer 6-1 6-1                  
14:10    H.Watson defeated A.Wozniak 6-3 6-2
14:30    J.Zheng defeated S.Peer 1-6 6-1 6-3
15:00    S.Cirstea defeated F. Schiavone 7-5 6-3               
16:00    S.Kuznetsova defeated A.Kleybanova 4-6 7-5 6-2
17:30    E.Baltacha defeated L.Na 6-7 retired        

2009 Tuesday's results

Eastbournetennis.com | 16 June

A. Radwanska defeated U. Radwanska || 6-1, 6-1
A. Mauresmo d. V. Zvonareva || 6-3, 1-6, 6-2                           
A. Medina Garrigues v V. Azarenka || cancelled    
A. Medina Garrigues d. M. Martinez || 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-1 
V. Dushevina d. A. Sugiyama || 6-7(6), 7-5, 6-4
A. Wozniak d. S. Kuznetsova || 6-0, 6-3                            
C. Wozniacki d. A. Kleybanova || 6-3, 6-2                             
N. Li d. E. Baltacha || 6-2, 7-5                           
M. Bartoli d. G. Dulko || 6-3, 6-1                            
A. Chakvetadze d. J. Jankovic || 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2                
S. Bammer d. A. Keothavong || 6-3, 6-2 
E. Makarova d. J. Groth || 7-6(6), 6-1          

2009 Tuesday news

2009 AEGON International | 16 June

jelena jankovicCaroline Wozniacki, Agnieszka Radwanska and Amelie Mauresmo survived a day of upsets that saw Jelena Jankovic (pictured) and Svetlana Kuznetsova tumble out of the AEGON International. 

World no9 Wozniacki enjoyed a straightforward victory over Alisa Kleybanova, 6-3 6-2 and with a massive smile enthused: “I am happy my match today and the courts are playing really well.”

Defending champion Radwanska won the first round battle of the siblings, the no8 seed defeating younger sister Urszula 6-1 6-1. And French ace Mauresmo also joined the winners’ list, shocking no4 seed Vera Zvonareva on Centre Court 6-3 1-6 6-3.

“It was not my best win playing on grass but it’s always good to get a win and to get the chance to play better tomorrow,” admitted 2006 Wimbledon champion Mauresmo. “It was Vera’s first time back and maybe she was a little shaky on her ankle, it’s tough to come back from a long injury break. I didn’t feel great on court. It was a little windy out there and my serve was not so good but the match showed some areas that I need to improve in.”

Zvonareva was joined on the sidelines by women’s no3 seed Jankovic, who was beaten 6-7(5) 6-3 6-2 by Anna Chakvetadze of Russia.

“I didn’t really feel comfortable out there today,” said world No.6 Jankovic. “I got into the match and won the first set playing quite well. But the ball stayed so low and my legs felt tired and I didn’t want to have to bend down for the balls so I lost my rhythm.”

French Open champion Kuznetsova was another first round casualty, thrashed by Aleksandra Wozniak 6-0 6-3, and fumed: “The match was really tough for me after two months on clay. On this surface everything is different, and for me it’s too much to change in three days. I need more time I’m not a robot who can change so quickly!

Canadian Wozniak was delighted with her victory and admitted: “It’s never easy to play the seeds from the start of the tournament but it’s grass so it’s dangerous. 

"This is another great win for me over a top 10 player. She’s just won the French Open so she has a lot of confidence, but she couldn’t find her rhythm against me.”

keothavong (left) and sarah borwell at eastbourne 2009And British hopes were dashed when Anne Keothavong (pictured with Eastbourne doubles partner Sarah Borwell) and Elena Baltacha rounded off the singles action on Devonshire Park’s Centre and no1 courts with defeats.

British no1 Keothavong admitted after her 6-3 6-2 first round reversal to Austrian Sybille Bammer: “I expected her to be a tough opponent and today I didn’t give myself a chance. I was spraying balls about and she just had to put the ball in the court."

She added: "Sometimes I can put too much pressure on myself, I know I am capable of beating players like Sybille and today it just wasn’t happening for me. I expect more from myself, I want to perform well and not let people who support me down.”

And Baltacha battled hard against world no20 Na Li only to bow out 6-2, 7-5. The 25-year-old Scot enthused: "I can’t say I am disappointed because I feel I learned so much from that match. I am not good enough to beat the world no20, but I’m not that far away from her. 

"I’ve improved so much in the last few months and that match really helped me to believe in myself. There was only five or 10 percent separating us on some of the match statistics and that is the exciting thing. I’m not far away and I’m really going to knuckle down and improve on those areas."