Dokic falls at first hurdle

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:22

Wildcard Dokic, who reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open earlier this year, lost in straight sets to 34-year-old American Jill Craybas 6-4 6-2 with eight double faults undermining her bid.

In her only other outing since Melbourne, 25-year-old Dokic lost to top seed Caroline Wozniacki in Memphis at the end of last month.

Shahar Peer got her bid off to a good start as she needed only 58 minutes to breeze past Kateryna Bondarenko from Ukraine 6-2 6-1.

The Israeli now faces number 10 seed Marion Bartoli of France, the winner last week in Monterrey, in the next round.

Former top-10 player Nicole Vaidisova battled past Dutch wildcard Michaella Krajicek also in straight sets 6-3 6-4.

Vaidisova, now ranked 79th in the world, reached the quarter-finals at Indian Wells in 2007 but exited in the first round last year and will be relieved to come through what could have proved a tricky test as she saved five of six break points, serving five aces but four double faults.

China’s Li Na, the runner-up to Bartoli in Mexico, overcame a gutsy effort from Tamarine Tanasugarn to prevail 6-4 6-4.

The Thai player saved eight of 12 break points but succumbed in one hour 19 minutes.

Elsewhere, Russian Ekaterina Makarova came from a set down to beat France’s Natalie Dechy 3-6 6-1 6-3, while there were also wins for Tsvetana Pironkova, Olga Govortsova, Elena Vesnina, Yaroslava Shvedova, Chan Yung-jan and Petra Kvitova.

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