Tuesday, February 10, 2009

First round exits--business as usual

Nicole Vaidisova was defeated in the first round in Paris today by Emelie Loit, 6-1, 6-4. Yesterday, Agnes Szavay was defeated 7-6, 6-2 by Li Na. There is certainly no shame in being defeated by Li, but it was Li's return to the tour, which might have given Szavay a bit of an edge. (On the other hand, Li returned last year from months off and won a tournament right away.)

I have always thought that Vaidisova was mentally fragile, like so many other talented players on the tour, and I can't say that her lack of success surprises me that much. There is a lot of pressure on a so-called phenom, anyway. Look at Tamira Paszek, for example. Oh, wait--you can't look at her--she went out in the first round in Pattaya City, defeated 6-3, 6-4 by World Team Tennis star Yaroslava Shvedova.

On a brighter note, Karolina Sprem, who fought pretty hard to become a qualifier in Paris, won her first round in straight sets against the talented Petra Kvitova.

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