TENNIS:POLISH TEENAGER Urszula Radwanska claimed her second big scalp in as many days when she knocked Canadian sixth seed Aleksandra Wozniak out of the Hobart International yesterday. The 18-year-old came from behind to win 3-6, 7-6, 7-5 against a player ranked 94 places ahead of her.
The win came 24 hours after she booked her place in the main draw by beating Italy’s Francesca Schiavone who should have been seeded fourth but was thrust into the qualifiers because of an administrative glitch with her entry.
Radwanska’s chances of progressing further have been helped by a series of surprise results that have left just three of the eight seeds still going after the first round. Two seeds lost on Sunday and another three, including Wozniak, joined them yesterday.
Russian third seed Anna Chakvetadze fell to Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 7-6, 1-6, 7-5, while number five Agnes Szavay of Hungary went down to Britain’s Anne Keothavong 6-3, 7-5.
China’s Zheng Jie, the fourth seed, survived a lapse of concentration to beat New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 and avoid the exit door, while Italian top seed Flavia Pennetta defeated Shahar Peer of Israel 6-2, 7-6.
Meanwhile, seventh-seed Nadia Petrova made an inglorious early exit from the Sydney International on a baking hot afternoon at Sydney’s Olympic tennis centre when she lost 6-2, 6-4 to Alize Cornet of France on a mixed day for Russia’s powerful army of women players.
World number three Dinara Safina hardly raised a sweat in beating Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 6-1 but Olympic champion Elena Dementieva struggled in the heat before beating fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova 7-5, 6-1 two days after winning the Auckland Classic.
Dementieva said she struggled to cope with the Australian conditions after spending the last week in New Zealand and was not surprised at the high dropout rate. “It’s never easy to get used to the weather conditions here in Australia,” Dementieva told a news conference.
“It’s extremely hot on the courts . . . so you have to be very careful.”
There were no major casualties in the men’s draw yesterday, with Russian fifth-seed Igor Andreev defeating Canada’s Frank Dancevic 7-6, 6-3 and Spanish seventh seed Tommy Robredo beating Juergen Melzer of Austria 6-3, 6-4.
The former Nike executive Adam Helfant has been appointed as ATP chief. He takes over from South African Etienne de Villiers as ATP executive chairman and president. “There is no doubt that men’s professional tennis is one of the world’s most popular sports and, as a lifelong fan, it is a great honour to have been given the opportunity to take the helm at such an exciting time for the ATP,” the American said.
An MIT and Harvard law graduate, Helfant was a senior executive with Nike for 12 years and spent three years with the National Hockey League (NHL) as an attorney.
He will also be hoping to mend bridges with the players since de Villiers was often criticised for not listening to the top professionals.
