Tennis

Mauresmo crashes out of Italian Open

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-05-17 09:54

Top seed Amelie Mauresmo suffered her second successive early exit when she lost 7-5 6-7 7-6 to Australia's Samantha Stosur in the second round of the Italian Open on Wednesday.

The defeat meant Mauresmo will go into the French Open, which begins on May 27, with very little match practice as she was knocked out in the third round in Berlin last week after returning from a two-month layoff due to appendicitis.

The former world number one had won all five of her previous meetings against Stosur but struggled to find her rhythm on Wednesday.

Mauresmo had two match points in the deciding set but slid to another unexpected defeat when she netted a backhand.

"When you are out for a while you just want to get back to your level as quickly as possible and obviously it's not there yet," the Frenchwoman, who won the title in 2004 and 2005, said after toiling for more than 2-1/2 hours.

"I guess I didn't keep the intensity the way I should have. I didn't take my chances. I'm just disappointed. The lack of matches is showing a bit at the moment."

POOR SHOTS

The match was tight from the start and went with serve until the 12th game, when Mauresmo double faulted to create two set points. Stosur converted the second, firing a service return down the line.

After losing a one-break lead in the second set, Mauresmo won the tiebreak comfortably. She punished some poor approach shots by Stosur and levelled the contest with an unreturnable first serve.

The Frenchwoman appeared to shift up a gear in the decider, conjuring up a pair of forehand winners to break in the fourth game.

She had her first match point as she served in the ninth game but her forehand agonisingly fell wide. Stosur then hit a drive-volley winner to break back and force another tiebreak.

Mauresmo wasted her second match point with a nervy, netted backhand. Two more unforced errors handed 23-year-old Stosur a memorable victory.

The other title contenders had easier passages into the last 16. Russian second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova swept aside home favourite Mara Santangelo 6-3 6-3, while third seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia beat qualifier Tamira Paszek 6-3 6-4.

There were also wins for sixth seed Dinara Safina, seventh seed Anna Chakvetadze and ninth seed Daniela Hantuchova.