Tennis: Second seed has difficult battle in first round

Daniela Hantuchova in action yesterday. Picture / Martin Sykes

Second seed Daniela Hantuchova had tournament director Richard Palmer reaching for the worry beads before she fought back to win a tight first round three-set match yesterday.

On a day in which the ASB Classic seeds generally had a good run, world No 17 Hantuchova had all kinds of problems in the first set against Ukraine's Yulia Beygelzimer.

Ranked 137 places lower than the Slovak star and in the Sovereign singles on a direct entry after winning a tournament in Italy last year, Beygelzimer won all but 10 points in racing to 5-0 in the first set. She eventually took it 6-2 in 30 minutes.

"The first set was not too pretty," Hantuchova later admitted. "I felt like I left my game in the locker room."

Thankfully for the large ASB Tennis Centre crowd and Palmer, the 22-year-old found her touch and got through the remaining sets without dropping serve to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.

"In the second set I hung in there and waited for my chances. I wanted to be more aggressive," said Hantuchova after her first Auckland outing.

She was and continued the solid form she showed in the second half of last year when she similarly won matches in fighting back from a set down.

"But, there are no easy first round matches any more. This tournament has surprised me. It is a very good field for a tier four."

She now faces unseeded American Jill Craybas, who fought back from a set down to beat American qualifier - and former Classic runner-up - Ashley Harkleroad in a third-set tiebreaker.

In two previous clashes, in 2003, Hantuchova beat Craybas on clay and hardcourt.

While top seed Nadia Petrova, already through to the second round, had a day off, other seeded players went to work.

Eighth seed Vera Zvonareva did not take long to finish her interrupted match with Argentine Paola Suarez winning 6-2, 6-3 after leading 6-2, 4-2 when rain forced the players off on Monday.

The all-French battle between sixth seed Marion Bartoli and Emile Loit was much closer with Bartoli needing 2h 18m to get through after fighting back from a set down to win 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-1.

Seventh seed and world No 35 Shinobu Asagoe (Japan) was the first seed to fall.

After cruising through the first set 6-0, 96th-ranked Maria Sanchez Lorenzo then dropped the second as Asagoe found her better form against the hard-hitting Spaniard to take the second.

Sanchez Lorenzo, acknowledged as one of the bigger servers, picked it again in the third to take it 6-2 and book a second round clash with Kristina Brandi, who sprang a minor surprise in beating Catalina Castano in straight sets.

There was also some surprise when Israeli qualifier Tzipora Obziler, ranked 131, saw off American Jamea Jackson (92) 6-3 6-2 in a little over an hour. Obziler now faces fifth seed Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik.

In another of those surprise results the Classic throws up, Korean Yoon jeong Cho, beaten, after holding two match points, by Eleni Daniilidou in the 2003 final, beat Shahar Peer (Israel) in straight sets to book a second round meeting with Zvonareva.

The rocky ship got back on to an even keel late in the day when fourth seed Russian Maria Kirilenko edged Olga Blahotova (Czech Republic).

Kirilenko needed 1h 16m to win through to a second round clash today with Viktoria Azarenka.


Today's highlights

* First up on Stadium court second seed Daniela Hantuchova plays veteran American Jill Craybas.
* Fourth seed Maria Kirilenko and wildcard Viktoria Azarenka, two of the rising stars on the WTA Tour, also meet in a tantalising second round singles clash.
* A compact third day schedule with no night session planned.