Times wires
Sunday, May 22, 2011
PARIS — Sam Stosur opened her bid to return to the French Open final by beating Iveta Benesova 6-2, 6-3 on Sunday in the first round.
Playing in the first match on Court Philippe Chatrier, the eighth-seeded Stosur dropped her serve in the opening game but then reeled off four straight games to take the lead for good.
The Australian reached the final at Roland Garros last year but lost to Francesca Schiavone. In 2009, Stosur reached the French Open semifinals.
"Obviously I thought of last year's last match," the Tampa resident said. "It was nice to get out there again and, of course, if you can play on any court here, you'd want to play on that one."
Stosur faces Simona Halep, who became the first player to reach the second round by beating Alla Kudryavtseva 6-2, 6-1.
"I don't think I have to necessarily prove anything. I think having made semis and a final, I think that kind of proves that I have been able to back it up and it wasn't a fluke the first time," Stosur said. "Of course I'd love to go a little bit further this year, but I think it's more just wanting to achieve that rather than I have to do it because of X, Y and Z."
Bethanie Mattek-Sands, the highest-ranked American woman in the event at 36th, rallied to beat Arantxa Parra Santonja 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.
Meanwhile, Marin Cilic was the first seeded player ousted, losing to Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-4. The 19th-seeded Cilic had 67 unforced errors in the match and was broken five times.
For Ramirez Hidalgo, it was only his fourth win in 15 Grand Slam tournaments.
"It's my greatest victory this season, that's for sure," said Ramirez Hidalgo, 33. "I would not say this is the beginning of a new career, because I'm too old for this, but it's a kind of relief."
Seventh-seeded David Ferrer had no such problems, advancing by defeating Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.
No. 14 Stanislas Wawrinka, No. 17 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 30 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and No. 31 Sergiy Stakhovsky also advanced.
"I expected, like every year, the first match not to be too easy," said Wawrinka, who beat Augustin Gensse 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. "I was a bit slow. I took some time before I got into the match. In the first round, it's never so easy."
The first seeded women's player to lose was Shahar Peer. The 19th-seeded Israeli lost to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.
In the final match of the day, No. 18 Plavia Pennetta lost to American Varvara Lepchenko 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
No. 13 Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2009 champion, reached the second round, as did No. 10 Jelena Jankovic, No. 14 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, No. 17 Julia Goerges and No. 32 Tsvetana Pironkova.
"It's never easy, especially in the first round," said Jankovic, who beat Alona Bondarenko 6-3, 6-1.
Former No. 1 and two-time major champion Lleyton Hewitt withdrew hours before the start, citing a left ankle injury.