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Wednesday August 26, 2009

Winning starts for Kuznetsova and Mauresmo

NEW HAVEN: Top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and two-time major champion Amelie Mauresmo got off to successful starts at the Pilot Pen tennis tournament on Monday.

Mauresmo stopped Japanese ace Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-1 in the first round and Russian Kuznetsova beat China’s Zheng Jie 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4.

In the final US Open tune-up event, Mauresmo moves on to face the winner of a match between American Meghann Shaughnessy and Alona Bondarenko.

World number six Kuznetsova easily won the first set but lost the second in a tiebreak and then rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the third to win the match.

The eighth-seeded Mauresmo needed 80 minutes to dispatch Sugiyama, hammering three aces and winning 68% of her first-serve points. She also committed seven double faults.

On the men’s side of the draw sixth-seeded American Sam Querrey outlasted Frenchman Marc Gicquel 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2 to reach the third round.

The former world number one Mauresmo was a New Haven runner-up in 2005.

Sugiyama won 33% of her first serve points and converted just three of 13 break-point chances on the hardcourts at the Connecticut Tennis Centre at Yale University.

France’s Virginie Razzano followed Mauresmo into the second round by beating Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

In other women’s matches, fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland rallied to beat Italian qualifier Roberta Vinci 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) and Czech Iveta Benesova overcame American lucky-loser Varvara Lepchenko 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. — AFP

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