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NEW YORK: Maria Sharapova opened the defense of her
US Open crown in commanding style on Tuesday by overpowering
Italy’s Roberta Vinci, 6-0, 6-1, in under an hour.
The Russian second seed showed no
signs of the shoulder and shin injuries that have dogged her this
year as she outgunned her opponent from the first exchanges and
pocketed the first set in just 23 minutes.
It was more of the same in the
second set as the 20-year-old Russian glamour girl, dressed in a
seamless bright red dress with glittering sequins on the front,
unleashed all her firepower on her shell-shocked opponent.
It was all over in 50 minutes
sending Sharapova into a second round tie against unheralded
Australian Casey Dellacqua.
“It’s great to be back, to
step on to this court at night—just feel the vibes and be on the
center court again,” she said.
“Every corner I turn here I get
goosebumps. When you come back to the place you won your second
major, its incredible.
“And to come in to defend my
title when I am healthy, that’s the best part.”
There were straight-sets wins
also for two former New York champions, Martina Hingis (1997) and
Svetlana Kuznetsova (2004).
Hingis was in a pensive mood
following her 6-0, 6-3 win over French youngster Mathilde Johansson,
while Kuznetsova said after her 6-2, 6-3 win over Klara Zakopalova
of the Czech Republic that she was just happy to be back in New
York, the scene of her breakthrough win in 2004.
In the men’s side, Novak
Djokovic of Serbia and home hope James Blake both kick-started their
US Open campaigns with straight-sets wins.
Sixth-seeded Blake, who is in the
same half of the draw as defending champion and favorite Roger
Federer, had too much firepower for veteran compatriot Michael
Russell, winning 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).
Third seed Djokovic, who could
meet Rafael Nadal in the semifinals for the third straight Grand
Slam tournament, disposed of Dutch lucky-loser Robin Haase, 6-2,
6-1, 6-3.
In other matches, No. 12 Ivan
Ljubicic of Croatia defeated Kristof Vliegen of Belgium, 6-1, 7-6
(7-1), 6-1, and 2001 champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia outclassed
Amer Delic of the United States, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.
Top seeds Federer and Justine
Henin both won their first-round matches on Monday as did the
Williams sisters, Venus and Serena.
--AFP
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