ROME, 17 May 2006 — Francesca Schiavone led an Italian victory hat trick yesterday as the eighth seed defeated compatriot Mara Santangelo 6-4, 6-0 to reach the third round of the Rome Masters.
The London-based Sciavone, who has stalled three times at the quarterfinal stage on the clay of the Foro Italico, is still looking for her first career title at age 25.
She has flirted with success twice this season, finishing runner-up at Sydney (losing to Justine Henin-Hardenne) and Amelia Island (Nadia Petrova).
“This derby was tough,” said the winner, “I needed all of my concentration.
“It’s not easy to play a compatriot, especially in your opening round (after a bye). I attacked in the first set and her level dropped in the second set. I was able to take my chances.” The eighth seed was joined as a winner by 15th seed Flavia Pennetta, who claimed her first-round match in a struggle with Kateryna Bondarenko of the Ukraine 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.
The 20-year-old qualifier Romina Oprandi completed the day’s winning home trio with a defeat of Kristina Brandi 6-0, 5-7, 6-3.
Sciavone, playing Rome for the eighth time, improved her record here to 14 wins, eight defeats. With locals advancing, the decks were cleared for the second appearance on Center court in less than 24 hours for 1999 champion Venus Williams, aiming for the third round against Czech Lucie Safarova.
Williams last played Rome in 2000, where she lost in the third round to Jelena Dokic.
The former world No. 1 is competing in only her third event this season after injury.
She withdrew from Antwerp, Dubai, Miami and Charleston due to right elbow and arm injuries, but made a return with a quarterfinal on clay at Warsaw, where she lost to Svetlana Kuznetsoava. German 11th seed Anna-Lena Groenefeld defeated Virginie Razzano of France 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 while Kararina Srebotnik spoiled the illness comeback after seven months of Alicia Molik, defeating the Australian 6-2, 6-0 on an outside court.
Murray Downs Monfils at Hamburg Masters
In Berlin, Britain’s Andy Murray upset in-form Gael Monfils of France in the first round of the Hamburg Masters yesterday, winning 6-4, 6-1 in the battle of the teenagers.
It was the pair’s first meeting and came after world No. 29 Monfils reached the semifinals of last week’s Rome Masters where he lost to eventual champion Rafael Nadal of Spain.
Murray, ranked 46 in the world, hasn’t progressed beyond the second round in any of his last six tournaments but said he had played one of his best matches on clay yesterday in windy conditions at the Am Rothenbaum.
“If I win against a guy who is making the semis of a Masters Series, and beating him 6-4, 6-1, there is obviously not that much that I can do better,” said Murray, who celebrated his 19th birthday on Monday.
“But today it was tough. It was very windy. When the sun came out, the shadow was covering half of the court which made it very tough to return from one of the sides.
“He was obviously very confident after making the semis last week. But I played the right way.” Monfils, also 19, did not blame the wind for his defeat.
Scot Murray plays James Blake in the second round. The American number five seed scored a fine win over former French Open champion Carlos Moya of Spain on Monday in their first-round clash.
In other matches yesterday, fourth seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko came through 6-3, 6-4 against Chile’s Nicolas Massu, while Massu’s compatriot and the No. 7 seed, Fernando Gonzalez, beat Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 6-4, 6-3.
Kiefer stepped onto the center court after world No. 1 Roger Federer issued a public apology to the fans at the same place for being unable to play due to fatigue.
The absence of the two top stars hit tournament organizers hard and added to the pressure on the German players at the 100th edition of the event.
The day did not start well in this respect as Florian Mayer wasted a 4-2 lead in the first set to crash 6-4, 6-2 against Slovakia’s Dominik Hrbaty. But Kiefer then did better with his victory over Melzer.
Gilles Simon saved French pride with a 6-1, 6-1 demolition of Greg Rusedski.
Nadal and world No. 1 Roger Federer pulled out of the Hamburg tournament citing fatigue after their five-set final on Sunday that lasted more than five hours.
