08/26/2008 - Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World No. 1 Ana Ivanovic and former top-ranked star Serena Williams were among Tuesday's first-round winners at the U.S. Open.
The Serbian Ivanovic, who's battled a thumb injury in recent weeks, snuck past Russian Vera Dushevina 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 on a beautiful sunny day at this Big Apple fortnight. A fourth-seeded Serena, meanwhile, subdued Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko 6-1, 6-4.
Ivanovic appeared to be cruising on Day 2, up a set and leading 4-2 in the second, but some sloppy play allowed her Russian counterpart to sneak into the match.
Dushevina fought back to claim the second set and was leading 3-2 in the third before Ivanovic righted the ship. The Serbian star went on to capture the third by converting on a third match point after 2 hours, 3 minutes of uneventful tennis.
Ivanovic is the reigning French Open champ and was this year's runner-up at the Australian Open. She's played in three of the last six major finals.
Up next for Ivanovic will be little-known Frenchwoman Julie Coin.
The eight-time major titlist Serena handled Bondarenko in a mere 57 minutes, capping the win with a second match point. The powerful American captured the U.S. Open in 1999 and 2002 and was the runner-up here in 2001.
Ivanovic and Serena were joined in the second round by surging Russian star Dinara Safina, who handled American teenager Kristie Ahn 6-3, 6-4 on the grounds at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The sixth-seeded Safina was the French Open runner-up to Ivanovic and the runner-up at the Olympic tennis tournament two weeks ago.
Safina, the younger sister of 2000 men's U.S. Open champion Marat Safin, will face Italian Roberta Vinci in the round of 64.
Ninth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland cruised with a 6-4, 6-2 pasting of Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova, while an upset came when former Top-20 German Anna-Lena Groenefeld grounded 11th-seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 6-2. The former Top-10 Hantuchova has now dropped eight of her last 12 matches and hasn't won back-to-back matches since March.
In other action involving Top-16 seeds, No. 13 Hungarian Agnes Szavay topped American Gail Brodsky 7-5, 6-3 and No. 16 Italian Flavia Pennetta overcame Swiss Stefanie Vogele 2-6, 6-2, 6-2.
No. 18 seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia bested American Jill Craybas 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) and 19th-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova brushed aside France's Olivia Sanchez 6-2, 6-4 at the fourth and final major of the year.
Additional seeded victors were No. 20 Czech Nicole Vaidisova and No. 30 Japanese Ai Sugiyama, while Swiss Timea Bacsinszky upended 31st-seeded Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano 6-4, 6-1.
Other first-round winners were the aforementioned Coin, Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru, Taipei's Su-Wei Hsieh, Chinese Shuai Peng, Italians Vinci and Tathiana Garbin, Belarusian Olga Govortsova and Colombian Mariana Duque Marino.
<< Marlins activate Waechter from DL
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Marlins activated pitcher Doug
Waechter from the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday.
Waechter was put on the shelf on August 11 with inflammation in his rotator
cuff.
In 39 games this season
<< Nationals' Kearns headed back to DL
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Nationals placed
right fielder Austin Kearns on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday for the
second time this season. Kearns has a stress fracture in his left foot.
Kearns mis
<< Bears part ways with Manning
Lake Forest, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bears terminated the
contract of veteran cornerback Ricky Manning, Jr. on Tuesday.
Manning came to the Bears in 2006 as a free agent and in 31 games, he has
posted 106 tackles,
<< Edmonton's Harris highlights CFL weekly awards
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A.J. Harris and Dario Romero of the Edmonton
Eskimos were among the top players for the CFL for Week 9.
Harris earned offensive honors after running for a CFL season-high 189 yards
and a score, plus 30
Detroit calls up Lambert to make debut >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers purchased the contract of
pitcher Chris Lambert from Triple-A Toledo to make his major league debut
Tuesday against the Cleveland Indians.
Lambert, 25, was 12-8 with a 3.50 earned r
Panthers sign WR Parker >>
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Carolina Panthers signed wide receiver
Samie Parker on Tuesday.
Parker, who was signed by Denver as an unrestricted free agent on April 15 and
released on Monday, spent the first four seasons of hi
Report: Strahan to stay retired >>
East Rutherford, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former New York Giants defensive end
Michael Strahan will reportedly remain retired, turning down an offer to come
back and play for the Super Bowl champions.
According to a report on FoxSports.c
Cadillac in the shop; Bucs place RB Williams on PUP list >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers placed oft-injured
running back Carnell "Cadillac" Williams on the physically unable to perform
list, assuring he will be out of action for the regular season's first six
weeks.
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