Safina tops Zvonareva to open French Open
(French Open)
Updated: 2006-05-28 21:45
Dinara Safina overcame 35 unforced errors to beat fellow
Russian Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 7-5 in the opening center-court match at the French
Open, which started on a Sunday for the first time.
Russia's Dinara Safina
jubilates after winning her first round match against Russia's Vera
Zvonareva during the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros
stadium in Paris, Sunday May 28, 2006. Safina won the match 6-3, 7-5.
[AP] |
The tournament added a 15th day of play to extend into a third weekend.
Twelve matches were scheduled, with action on three courts.
Play began with temperatures in the 60s under overcast skies, but the sun
broke through during the first set.
The 14th-seeded Safina won a sloppy, seesaw match, with nearly half of the
points ending in unforced errors. She took a 6-5 lead in the second set with the
10th service break of the match, then closed out the victory with a crosscourt
backhand winner.
No. 22 Ai Sugiyama also advanced, rallying to beat Eleni Daniilidou 6-7 (1),
6-0, 6-3. In men's play, No. 7 Tommy Robredo swept Tomas Zib 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.
Safina, the younger sister of two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin,
improved her career record at Roland Garros to 2-3. She lost in the opening
round in 2003 and 2005.
But Safina has climbed this year to 16th in the rankings, and she beat three
top 10 players en route to her first Tier I final last week at Rome before
losing to Martina Hingis.
"I'm starting to be a little more calm this year, and a little more knowing
what I'm doing on the court," Safina said. "I'm trying to play really focused
from the first point to when I shake hands."
Zvonareva reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros in 2003, but she fell
out of the top 20 last year and is only 10-12 in 2006.
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