The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Zuluaga sets up clash with Venus

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 28, 2004

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Zuluaga sets up clash with Venus

WARSAW, APRIL 27. Second-seeded Venus Williams will face Australian Open semifinalist Fabiola Zuluaga of Colombia in the second round of the J&S Cup.

Zuluaga withstood a strong challenge from Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues to win 7-6 (10), 6-4 in Monday's only main draw match, and set up a clash with Williams, who seems to have returned to form with a title victory at Amelia Island and two wins in the United States' defeat of Slovenia in the Fed Cup. It was in Warsaw last year that Williams suffered a stomach muscle injury and had to retire in the final against Amelie Mauresmo.

Zuluaga, who advanced to the Australian Open semifinals when Mauresmo defaulted with a back injury, rallied from 1-4 to lead 5-4 in the opening set. But she had to fight off three set points in the tiebreaker before taking it 12-10.

She then won the first 10 points of the second set, but failed to convert a break point for 3-0. Medina Garrigues then leveled at 3-3, before Zuluaga broke the Spaniard to love at 4-4 and served out for the match.

"You don't expect any easy matches, but this was a tough one," Zuluaga said.

"She was returning really good and stepping into the court, so I tried to put more first serves in and that worked. I knew I would have to fight a lot and suffer a little, too."

Verkerk advances

Fourth-seeded Martin Verkerk of the Netherlands advanced to the second round of the BMW Open at Munich on Monday, but two other seeds, Andrei Pavel of Romania and James Blake of the United States, were eliminated. Verkerk topped Joachim Johansson of Sweden 6-4, 6-2.

Seventh-seeded Taylor Dent of the United States also won, downing Anthony Dupuis of France 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2).

The sixth-seeded Pavel lost to Nikolay Davydenko of Russia 7-6 (3), 6-4, while Sargis Sargsian of Armenia defeated the eighth-seeded Blake 6-4, 7-6 (6).

In other matches, Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic beat Karol Kucera of Slovakia 6-4, 7-5, and Victor Hanescu of Romania topped Lars Burgsmuller of Germany 6-2, 7-6 (5).

Loit withdraws

Top-seeded Emilie Loit of France withdrew from the Budapest Grand Prix on Monday with a hand injury. She was replaced in the draw by Hungary's Melinda Czink, who will face 2000 champion Tathiana Garbin of Italy in the first round. In the only main draw match on Monday, Flavia Pennetta of Italy defeated Hungarian wild card Zsofia Gubacsi 6-3, 6-4.

The results (first round):

At Warsaw: Fabiola Zuluaga bt Anabel Medina Garrigues 7-6 (10), 6-4.

At Munich: Martin Verkerk bt Joachim Johansson 6-4, 6-2; Nikolay Davydenko bt Andrei Pavel 7-6 (3), 6-4; Taylor Dent bt Anthony Dupuis 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2); Sargis Sargsian bt James Blake 6-4, 7-6 (6); Radek Stepanek bt Karol Kucera 6-4, 7-5; Victor Hanescu bt Lars Burgsmuller, Germany, 6-2, 7-6 (5).

At Barcelona: Felix Mantilla bt Stalislas Wawrinka 7-6(2), 6-0; Alberto Martin bt Jose Acasuso 6-1, 1-2 (retd); David Sanchez bt Dmitry Tursunov 6-2, 6-4; Peter Luczak bt Oscar Hernandez 7-5, 6-3; Fernando Vicente bt Ivo Karlovic 6-4, 6-4; Mariano Zabaleta bt Massimo dell'Agqua 6-1, 6-4;

Feliciano Lopez bt Jan-Michael Gambill 7-5, 7-5; Olivier Patience bt Davide Sanguinetti 6-7(1), 6-4, 6-3.

At Budapest: Flavia Pennetta bt Zsofia Gubacsi 6-3, 6-4. — AP

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