Errani, Hantuchova Tough Out Warsaw Wins
Published May 19, 2009 12:00
WARSAW, Poland - Two more seeds took to the clay of Warsaw on Tuesday and were forced to fight hard for victories as the first round of the $600,000, Premier-level Warsaw Open came to a conclusion.
Sara Errani, who won her first two Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles titles last summer at Palermo and Portoroz and who holds the No.5 seed this week, had to rally from 4-2 and 5-3 down in the third set to edge qualifier Greta Arn, 62 16 76(2). Daniela Hantuchova, a former Top 5 player who is working her way back up the rankings after missing several months last year with a foot injury, had her own struggles in the first round, rallying from 63 31 down to beat Nuria Llagostera Vives, 36 63 63. Hantuchova is the No.6 seed this week.
In matches between unseeded players, winners were Urszula Radwanska, Jill Craybas, Galina Voskoboeva, Klara Zakopalova, qualifiers Ioana Raluca Olaru and Alexandra Dulgheru and lucky loser Darya Kustova. Olaru had the most notable win of the bunch, beating former world No.4 and recent Australian Open quarterfinalist Jelena Dokic in straight sets early on in the day, 64 63.
The entire second round will be played on Wednesday, including a returned Maria Sharapova taking on Kustova. Sharapova played her first match on the Tour in nine months on Monday, beating Tathiana Garbin in an entertaining three-setter in the first round. The two players have never played each other before.
