The third seed Russian suffered a shock defeat in the first round of the French Open on Tuesday, beaten 6-2 6-2 by Akiko Morigami of Japan.
PARIS: Third seed Nadia Petrova suffered a shock defeat in the first round of the French Open on Tuesday, beaten 6-2 6-2 by Akiko Morigami of Japan. The Russian, who has won four titles this year, looked unusually sluggish and was beaten in just over an hour. Petrova missed the Italian Open two weeks ago with a pectoral injury and against Morigami she struggled to create her usual power, allowing the Japanese to dictate most of the points.
Frenchman Gael Monfils won the battle of the 19-year-olds at the French Open on Tuesday outlasting an injury-hit Andy Murray 6-4 6-7 1-6 6-2 6-1 to reach the second round. Murray, who beat Monfils in Hamburg earlier this month, had treatment for a lower back injury midway through the third set.
With the Briton’s movement clearly restricted, Monfils hit back to win in three hours 42 minutes. Both players made 68 unforced errors in the cool, breezy conditions. Murray let slip a 3-0 lead to allow 25th seed Monfils to take the opening set. Murray then wasted a 4-2 lead in the second before winning the tie-break 7-2.
The Scot led 3-0 in the third set before a medical timeout for treatment on what appeared to be a lower back injury. Initially, the break seemed to affect Monfils more than Murray and the Scot raced through the rest of the set. But Murray’s movement became more and more restricted and Monfils levelled the match and then cruised through the final set to set up a meeting with Belgian
Dick Norman. Also fourth seed Ivan Ljubicic reached the second round with a 6-2 6-0 6-3 thrashing of Argentine Carlos Berlocq.
The Croatian, who has never made it past the third round at Roland Garros, was not challenged by the world number 82 and won in one hour 35 minutes on his second match point. He will meet qualifier Oscar Hernandez of Spain next.
Justine Henin-Hardenne opened the defence of her French Open crown with a 6-3 6-0 thrashing of Estonian Maret Ani to reach the second round at Roland Garros on Tuesday. Wearing long sleeves on a chilly centre court Henin, seeded fifth this year, raced to a 4-0 lead and pocketed the first set in 32 minutes. She finished her warm-up against the world number 70 with a volleyed winner in just one hour. Henin-Hardenne, who also won the tournament in 2003, will meet either Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus or American Jill Craybas in the next round.
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