Australia's gruelling summer conditions claimed three more victims yesterday when Vera Zvonareva, Victoria Azarenka and Marion Bartoli all pulled out of the Sydney International because of injury and illness. Zvonareva, the world No 7 from Russia, pulled out of her first round-match against Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues after suffering a bout of gastroenteritis.
A mystery virus forced Azarenka of Belarus, who claimed her maiden WTA title at the Brisbane International on Saturday, to forfeit her match against the Australian Jarmila Gajdosova. Bartoli, the former Wimbledon finalist from France, quit her match against British qualifier Melanie South after just two games because of a calf injury. The seventh-seed Nadia Petrova also made an inglorious early exit on a hot afternoon at Sydney's Olympic tennis centre when she lost 6-2, 6-4 to Alize Cornet of France on a mixed day for Russia's powerful army of women players.
The world number No 3 Dinara Safina hardly raised a sweat in beating Romania's Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 6-1, but the Olympic champion Elena Dementieva initially struggled in the heat before beating the fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova 7-5, 6-1 two days after winning the Auckland Classic. Dementieva said she struggled to cope with the Australian conditions after spending the last week in New Zealand and was not surprised at the high dropout rate.
"It's never easy to get used to the weather conditions here in Australia," Dementieva said. "It's extremely hot on the courts, so you have to be very careful." There were no major casualties in the men's draw on Monday with the Russian fifth-seed Igor Andreev defeating Canada's Frank Dancevic 7-6, 6-3 and Spanish seventh seed Tommy Robredo beating Juergen Melzer of Austria 6-3, 6-4.
Meanwhile, the former Spanish world No 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero advanced to the second round of the Auckland Open after his Japanese opponent Kei Nishikori withdrew with an arm injury. Ferrero was leading 5-3 in the first set when his teenage opponent defaulted. "It's always nice to go through but not like this. I wanted to play this match to get some rhythm," Ferrero said as he spoke of his preparations for this month's Australian Open.
Ferrero was beaten in the Auckland final last year by Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber. He next meets either Kohlschreiber or twice champion Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia. Nishikori, 19, said he had injured his arm during a match last week in Brisbane, where he reached the quarter-finals, but should be fit for next week's opening grand slam of the year in Melbourne. The sixth-seeded American Sam Querrey ended Dan King-Turner's tournament 6-4, 7-5 after the New Zealander's service game failed him.
King-Turner, who was granted a late wild card, made just 38 percent of his first serves against the tall American and admitted it had let him down. "My game's always based on my serve so when it's not going well it's tough," King-Turner said of his defeat. "I was possibly trying too hard to get a few free points. "So that's something to take out of it, to slow down sometimes and work my way out of it."
The top four seeds, including the world No 9 Juan Martin Del Porto of Argentina, have byes into the second round of the competiton. * With Agencies
