Russian duo progresses in tennis

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

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Top seed Justine Henin-Hardenne swept into the second round of the Australian Open with a ruthless destruction of Australian 15-year-old Olivia Lukaszewicz. The world number one, favoured to win her third Grand Slam title in Melbourne, crushed a player ranked 817 in the world 6-0 6-0. Henin-Hardenne gave her inxperienced opponent, a highly-rated junior from Adelaide, no time to settle and breezed through the opening set. The second followed an identical pattern, with the Belgian completing a 'double bagel' in 45 minutes. She was very brave and I'm sure she will improve Henin on Lukaszewicz Henin-Hardenne's game was far from perfect, with six double-faults and 17 unforced errors, but she was pleased with her opening effort. "It was good to have a quick game because it could be a long tournament in this heat," she said. The top seed also paid tribute to her young opponent, who never threw in the towel despite being brutally out-classed. "She was very brave and I'm sure she will improve - she's still very young," Henin-Hardenne added. She will next face unseeded Camille Pin of France in the second round on Wednesday. With a host of injury withdrawals marring the women's draw, one player who could take advantage is Amelie Mauresmo. The French number four seed made a confident start, sweeping aside Taiwanese wildcard Chia-Jung Chuang 6-1 6-0. Former champion Lindsay Davenport (USA) shrugged off concerns over a shoulder problem to reach the second round. The number five seed beat Romanian Ruxandra Dragomir Ilie 6-2 6-3. Dementieva crashes out Elsewhere, a trio of Russians progressed to offset the opening-day exits of compatriots Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova. Vera Zvonareva, the 11th seed, had a comfortable work-out with a 6-3 6-1 victory over Zuzana Ondraskova of the Czech Republic. Number 21 seed Elena Bovina recovered from the loss of the first set to beat Sandra Kleinova of the Czech Republic 4-6 6-1 7-5 And Svetlana Kuznetsova, seeded 30, overcame American Shenay Perry 6-3 6-3.

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