The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Serena makes short work of Randriantefy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 08, 2005

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Serena makes short work of Randriantefy

AMELIA ISLAND (FLORIDA), APRIL 7. Second-seeded Serena Williams beat unseeded Dally Randriantefy 6-3, 6-1 in 52 minutes Wednesday night in a second-round match at the Bausch & Lomb championships.

Williams, ranked No. 4, has won all five matches against Randriantefy.

Williams allowed just seven points in the five games she served in the first set of her first match of the season on clay. Randriantefy took the opening game of the second set, but Williams rallied to win the next six games.

``Whenever I play Dally, she hits like a thousand drop shots so I've got to be ready for that,'' Williams said. ``It's really too many at some point, but I've got to be ready for that.''

The match was Williams' first since losing to her sister Venus in the quarterfinals of the Nasdaq-100 at Key Biscayne. She welcomed the opportunity to play on clay.

``You have to change your mind-set when you play on clay,'' Williams said. ``I've learned the hard way, if you hit the ball really hard, you'll go home early. You have to lift the ball more and try to get a lot of balls in play instead of going for so many winners. But I love the clay. I love sliding and moving on it.''

Myskina moves up

In other action, Anastasia Myskina advanced to the round of 16 with a three-set victory over unseeded Shahar Peer of Israel.

Myskina, ranked No. 6, defeated Peer 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

Myskina rolled through the first set in 20 minutes, holding her service at love in her first three serves and breaking Peer's serve at love in the eighth game.

In the second set, Peer broke Myskina in the first and third games and held service twice to take a 4-0 lead.

``I played really well that first set, but then I got a little bored,'' Myskina said. ``I was thinking, when is this match going to finish, and the next thing I knew I was down 4-love. When you're down 4-love it's hard to come back.

Myskina said she's experiencing pain in her shoulder, which affects her serving.

``It's bothered me for a couple years now,'' she said. ``I don't want to have surgery on it. I've had one and that's enough for me. I'll get use to playing with the pain, I'll be fine with it.''

Myskina will next meet Shinobu Asagoe, a straight-set winner over Lisa Raymond on Wednesday.

The results:

At Amelia Island, Florida (WTA Bausch & Lomb championships): Second round: Vera Zvonareva bt Peng Shuai 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7); Mary Pierce bt Eleni Daniilidou 6-0, 6-2; Anastasia Myskina bt Shahar Peer 6-2, 3-6, 6-3; Virginie Razzano bt Alicia Molik 6-4, 6-4; Patty Schnyder bt Denisa Chladkova 6-3, 6-0; Shinobu Asagoe bt Lisa Raymond 7-5, 6-3; Jelena Jankovic bt Conchita Martinez 6-0, 6-3; Silvia Farina Elia bt Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-2, 6-2; Kveta Peschke bt Amy Frazier 6-4, 6-4; Elena Likhovtseva bt Gisela Dulko 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-4; Marta Domachowska bt Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; Serena Williams bt Dally Randriantefy 6-3, 6-1; Nadia Petrova bt Magdalena Maleeva 6-3, 6-0.

At Valencia (ATP Open Communidad Valencia): Second round: Fernando Gonzalez bt Felix Mantilla 6-4, 6-1; Albert Costa bt Stefan Koubek 6-4, 6-2. First round: Rafael Nadal bt Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2, 6-1.

At Casablanca: Grand Prix Hassan II ATP tournament: Second round: Gilles Muller bt Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 6-4; Christophe Rochus bt David Sanchez 7-5, 4-6, 6-3; Tomas Zib bt Santiago Ventura 6-4, 6-1; Filippo Volandri bt Jarkko Nieminen 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. — Agencies

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