13 December 2005

DUBAI — Unseeded Aravane Rezai of France pulled the first upset of the $75,000 seventh annual Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge when she ousted fifth seed Julia Schruff of Germany in three sets at the Habtoor Grand Resort and Spa here yesterday.

Rezai, who is of an Iranian descent, played a match of her life, taking the opening set 6-2. But her German opponent, ranked 81 on the WTA circuit, put up a fine display in the second and despite Rezai’s strong opposition, won 6-4 to level the scores 1-1.

The early stages of the deciding set was full of fireworks as both players went on the attack with a series of volleys. Rezai, however, gained more control in the later stages with her long baseline shots which posed problems to her German opponent. She capitalised on a few errors by Schruff to take the set 6-3 and the match.

Third seed Jelena Kostanic of Croatia was also stretched by Zsofia Gubacsi of Hungary in three sets, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2. Kostanic easily took the opening set but her opponent came back strongly in the second to level the scores. But the Croat found her rhythm in the third to clinch victory.

Yuliana Fedak of Ukraine, however, made light work of Marinne Giraud of Morocco with 6-1, 6-2 victory.

All the four top seeds, meanwhile, made it into the main draw at the end of the qualifying rounds which ended yesterday. The players were Napaporn Tongsalee of Thailand and her compatriot Montinee Tangphong, Ekaterina Dzehalevich (Belarus) and Yaroslava Shvedova (Russia). The top seed in the qualifier, Tongsalee, had to battle hard before overcoming Olga Panova of Russia in three sets. The Thai took the opening set with ease but her opponent put up a spirited fight in the second winning 6-3 to level the scores 1-1. The deciding set, was however, a one-sided affair as Tongsalee virtually dominated to win 6-0 and the match.

Tongsalee’s countrywoman, Tangphong had no such problems as she easily overpowered Samia Medjahdi of Algeria 6-2, 6-1 for a place in the main draw.

Dzehalevich of Belarus had to draw on all her resources to beat her compatriot, Nadejda Ostrovskaya 6-4, 7-6. Yaroslava Shvedova defeated Ekaterina Kosminskaya 6-4, 6-4 in an all-Russian encounter.

Hany Khafief, director of the tournament, commenting on the qualifying matches, said: “All the matches were very close and any player could have made it into the main draw. It was unfortunate no Arab girl made it into the main draw but it was a great experience for the players, Samia Medjahdi of Algeria and Fatima Al Nabhani of Oman.”

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