Apia International Sydney Tennis - Australian Open Series

Stosur falls in first round

AAP Monday 11 January 2010 9 Comments »

Australian No.1 Samantha Stosur has made a first-round exit from the Medibank International Sydney, losing in straight sets to Italian Flavia Pennetta.

The world No.13 was well below her best in falling 6-3 6-1 to the 12th-ranked Pennetta in little more than an hour.

Stosur’s heavy defeat was another setback ahead of the Australian Open starting next Monday in Melbourne following her disappointing Hopman Cup campaign.

“Obviously it’s not ideal and not the way you want to go into Melbourne, but I can’t think of it as the end of the world either,” Stosur said.

“I’ve still got a week to prepare and find my game.”

The 25-year-old won just one of her three singles matches in Perth and lost all three mixed doubles encounters with Lleyton Hewitt.

“It’s just a matter of learning to deal with everything that’s going on,” Stosur said.

“It is a new thing for me at the moment. Unfortunately, I’m not handling it quite as well. I’m doing everything I possibly can to turn it around.”

In the men’s draw, Australian Marinko Matosevic cut a frustrated figure as he went down 6-4 6-4 to Italy’s Andreas Seppi on Monday.

The 24-year-old from Melbourne, who qualified for the draw of a main ATP event for the first time on Sunday, would have played Lleyton Hewitt in the second round if he had beaten the world No.49.

Despite looking solid against Seppi’s serve, Matosevic could find no way to break the 25-year-old.

It was better news for Spain’s Daniel Gimeno-Traver, who Matosevic beat to qualify for the first round.

He had been awarded the lucky loser spot and a path into the second round after No.1 seed Gael Monfils was forced to pull out of the competition with a shoulder injury on Monday.

Earlier, Frenchman Richard Gasquet cruised through his first round match against Feliciano Lopez on Ken Rosewall Arena.

Gasquet triumphed 6-1 6-4 and said he was pleased with his form early in the tournament.

“It’s for sure a good start, because Lopez is a great player, 14 in the world, and he has a great serve,” Gasquet said.

“I played well last year with semifinal in this tournament, so I’m happy to be there and to win the first match.  It’s always difficult to win a match.  I’m happy because I played well..

Marcos Baghdatis eliminated a second Australian in the men’s draw, beating wildcard Nick Lindahl 6-2 7-5.

The world number 42 was too strong for the 21-year-old, who reached the final of the Australian Open boys competition in 2006, and will now face either Victor Troicki or Florent Serra in the second round.

Lindahl, who won the Australian Open wildcard playoff in December, said he competed well but didn’t take his chances when he had the opportunity.

“I felt like if just I hang in the points a bit longer and just moved him around a bit more and keep my serve in, I felt like I could have maybe turned it around a bit,” he said.

“Today was just a bit unlucky.”

Tags: Marcos Baghdatis, Marinko Matosevic, Nick Lindahl, Samantha Stosur

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