Wimbledon champion Venus Williams returned to the WTA San Diego Classic for the first time in five years on Monday, picking up where she left off with a victory.
The 10th seed, who dominated the event from 2000 through 2002 with three trophies on the trot, began her eighth campaign with a 6-3, 6-0 first-round victory over Russian Anastasia Rodionova in just 50 minutes.
Thai veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn lined up as a second-round opponent for top-seeded holder Maria Sharapova, booking her place over American Laura Granville 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
Second-seeded Serb Jelena Jankovic will start against Vania King, who beat fellow American Asia Muhammed 7-6 (7-2), 6-0.
Elena Dementieva, the number nine, joined Williams as a winner as she took out Catalina Castano 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 while number 11 Swiss Patty Schnyder beat American Jamea Jackson 6-2, 6-1.
Grosjean ousted
France's Sebastien Grosjean was ousted from the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in the first round after a 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 loss to world number 95 Igor Kunitsyn on Monday, adds Reuters from Washington.
In another first-round encounter, Swede Thomas Johansson needed two hours and 40 minutes to defeat Colombian teenager Santiago Giraldo 7-6, 6-7, 6-4. Top seed Andy Roddick, a two-time champion at Washington, plays his first match on Tuesday when he faces Tomas Zib of the Czech Republic in the second round.
Bhupathi-Hanley win
Mahesh Bhupathi and Paul Hanley outplayed the Korean-American pair of Hyung Taik Lee and Michael Russell 6-2, 7-5 to storm into the quarterfinals of the doubles competition, adds UNI.
Leander Paes and the Czech Republic’s Martin Damm have been seeded second here, and will play wild card Indo-US pair of Som Dev Varman and John Isner in the opening round.
In singles main draw, qualifier Dev Varman will face American Paul Goldstein in the first round. Prakash Amritraj failed to qualify for the tourney after going down 6-7 (1-7), 5-7 to Wesley Whitehouse of South Africa in the second and final qualifying round.
Volandri stunned
At Sopot, Polish wild card Michael Przysiezny gave the home crowd something to cheer when he knocked out fourth-seeded Italian Filippo Volandri in the first rond of the Polish Open on Monday, reports Reuters.
Volandri crashed out with Przysiezny winning 6-4, 2-6, 7-5.