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The Star Online: Sports


Kvitova, Hantuchova lose in 1st round in Dubai

Posted: 16 Feb 2011 12:19 AM PST

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP): Petra Kvitova lost in the first round of the Dubai Championships on Tuesday, falling to Ayumi Morita 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3) only two days after beating Kim Clijsters to win a tournament in France.

The Czech player, who has won three titles in her career, lost for only the second time this season.

"Well, I think everything was bad for me," said Kvitova, who is ranked 14th in the world. "I was tired and I felt everything. I couldn't serve too much because I'm feeling the muscle in the stomach. Yeah, I was slow and tired, so it was tough to play."

Pattaya Open champion Daniela Hantuchova also lost in the first round. The Slovak became dizzy for a time, saying she "couldn't keep track of the score" at one point, before losing to Anna Chakvetadze of Russia 6-1, 6-3.

"Felt like I didn't have much energy on the court," said Hantuchova, who won her first title in nearly four years in humid Thailand on Sunday. "I was trying and I know the tennis was not very pretty. I was trying my best. ... Physically, it was just impossible today."

Another surprise loser was former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic, who fell 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2 to Patty Schnyder of Switzerland. The 14th-seeded Serb was in control after winning the first set and leading 3-1 in the second but collapsed amid a wave of unforced errors and double faults.

Ivanovic was broken early in the decider and again to trail 5-2 after double-faulting. Schnyder closed out her first victory of 2011 when the Serb sent a backhand long.

"It feels great especially where the (Australian Open) didn't go that well," said Schynder, who lost in the first round in Melbourne. "I found my legs and footwork a bit. I was kind of slow. I was trying to hang in there to take the ball really early and hit some good serves. It's not easy to play rally after rally, which is my game."

Sara Errani of Italy, who lost in the Pattaya final, advanced by beating Slovak qualifier Zuzana Kucova 6-1, 6-4. Another Italian, Flavia Pennetta, landed only 43 percent of her first serves but still defeated Australian wild card Jelena Dokic 6-2, 6-2.

Pennetta, who reached the fourth round of the Australian Open and won her first Grand Slam doubles title in Melbourne, took advantage of a string of unforced errors and 11 double faults from Dokic, a quarterfinalist last week in Paris.

"She can play good tennis but she made a lot of mistakes," Pennetta said. "It's not easy to play the first match in a tournament. And it was really windy outside. The weather, it's really strange here."

Shahar Peer of Israel, a semifinalist last year, beat Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain 6-4, 6-1.

Peer jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set but Martinez Sanchez came back to tie it at 4. Peer went up 5-4 and broke Sanchez to take the set.

The Spaniard, weakened by the flu and coughing during the match, couldn't keep up in the second set.

Peer was barred from the 2009 tournament because she's Israeli. This year, she has extra security and her own compound. Still, she said she felt very comfortable in Dubai, where she lost to Venus Williams last year and was seeded ninth this year.

"Obviously, I played good last year," Peer said. "When you go back to a tournament that you played good, you want to repeat that."

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Roddick wins opener in Memphis

Posted: 15 Feb 2011 10:17 PM PST

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Andy Roddick beat Richard Berankis of Lithuania 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the opening round of the RMK Championships on Tuesday.

The two-time winner in Memphis will face Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic in the second round.

Roddick, playing for the first time since the Australian Open, had plenty of unforced errors, but produced 23 aces with his strong serve.

"It was one of those days where I felt if I made a first serve the point was done, didn't have to do much work after that," Roddick said. "That gave me a chance. And I played a little bit more aggressive in the third set."

Defending champion and fifth-seeded Sam Querrey of the United States opened with a 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory over Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin, snapping a three-match winless streak to open the season. Querrey had lost first-round matches in Sydney, Melbourne and San Jose to start the year and had dropped six straight since to mid-October.

Earlier, No. 2-seeded Mardy Fish of the United States beat Russia's Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-1, 7-5. Fish skipped last week's SAP Open because a thyroid condition was bothering him.

"I felt a lot better today than I did Friday," Fish said. "So that's a good sign. Obviously the goal is to try to get to 100 percent. To be honest, I've felt better each day."

Fish is coming off a year in which he attained a career-high world ranking of 16, won two tournaments and reached the finals of three others.

Among those joining Fish in the second round were American James Blake, who beat Ricardo Mello of Brazil, 6-4, 6-3; and 2009 finalist Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, who beat German Benjamin Becker, 6-4, 6-2.

Croatia's Ivan Dodig, who won his first ATP World Tour event two weeks ago in Croatia, beat Germany's Rainer Schuettler 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

In second-round matches on the women's side, the Cellular South Cup, No. 7 seed Renata Voracova of the Czech Republic was eliminated by Russian Ksenia Pervak, 6-1, 6-1. Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia beat Britain's Anne Keothavong, a Memphis semifinalist the previous two years.

The only seeded players remaining in the field are No. 3 Melanie Oudin and No. 6 Rebecca Marino.

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