Top seed Maria Sharapova fought hard to reach round two of the Australian Open. Camille Pin of France proved herself a worthy opponent in the blistering heat. The score was 6-3, 4-6, 9-7. The match ran for 171 minutes, 83 of which were the third set! Sharapova commented, “It’s inhumanely possible to play three hours in that kind of heat. I don’t think our bodies were made to do that. I was so delusional I couldn’t think.”
Kim Clijsters and Martina Hingis also made it to the second round of play, each winning in straight sets. Clijsters completed her match against Russia’s Vasilisa Bardina in just 44 minutes and won 6-0, 6-0; it looks like her last year in professional tennis is going to be brilliant. Hingis defeated Nathalie Dechy 6-0, 6-2, also making quick work of her opponent.
The women’s second round tomorrow includes matches between: Amelie Mauresmo vs. Olga Poutchkova, Serena Williams vs. Anne Kremer, Jelena Jankovic vs. Virginia Ruano Pascual.
[...] First Round: Camille Pin (France) 6-3, 4-6, 9-7 Second Round: Anastassia Rodionova (Russia) 6-0, 6-3 Third Round: Tathiana Garbin (Italy) 6-3, 6-1 Fourth Round: Vera Zvonareva (Russia) 7-5, 6-4 Quarterfinals: Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) 7-6, 7-5 Semifinals: Kim Clijsters (Belgium) 6-4, 6-2 [...]