Serena Opens Title Defense With a Win

[January 14, 2008]  MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- The difference in 12 months was easy to see.

Serena Williams, wearing fuchsia bicycle shorts and headband, a short white dress and dangling, chandelier-inspired earrings, found her form quickly and beat Jarmila Gajdosova 6-3, 6-3 on Monday in the first match in the Australian Open.

Last year, Williams was unseeded, ranked 81st and coming off one of her worst losses on tour -- in a Tier 4 event at Hobart -- yet she beat six seeded players en route to the title at Melbourne Park. It was her eighth, and least expected, Grand Slam win.

Two former champions who were absent last year advanced to the second round this time, with top-ranked Justine Henin beating Japan's Aiko Nakamura 6-2, 6-2, and 2000 winner Linsday Davenport holding off Italy's Sara Errani 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.

Third-seeded Jelena Jankovic saved three match points and needed 3 hours, 9 minutes to edge Austria's Tamira Paszek 2-6, 6-2, 12-10. The deciding set was 4 minutes shy of 2 hours, included 15 breaks of serve and an injury timeout for each player.

Few expected Williams to win the last title. But expectations -- hers and the pundits -- are much higher this season.

"It's obviously a lot different -- I'm not No. 81 any more. And the court's different -- it's a different color," Williams told the crowd after her 62-minute match at Rod Laver Arena against wild-card entry Gajdosova, a Slovak who is representing Australia.

"I thought about last year, you know, my last match on that court I was able to win it -- and that's all I thought about. I didn't think about holding up the trophy, I just got right back into the swing of things and thought, 'I have to stay focused.'"

Henin, in her first match at Melbourne Park since retiring from the 2006 final against Amelie Mauresmo, took the last six games against Nakamura to notch her 29th consecutive win.

She was going through a divorce and skipped the last Australian Open, then came back to win the French and U.S. Opens and the season-ending championship. Her only loss in six months was to Marion Bartoli in the Wimbledon semifinals.

She won the Sydney International title Friday to continue her streak.

"It was tough at the beginning because ... it was a little bit windy and she had a game that wasn't easy for me," Henin said. "The first round is not my favorite one, so I'm glad it's behind me now."

Davenport, who was pregnant with her first child and on a break from the tour this time last year, came into the tournament with three titles and an 18-1 record since returning from the birth of her son, Jagger, last June.

Two of those titles followed wins over Errani. The Italian player made her work harder this time, breaking Davenport's serve twice in the third set and saving two match points before putting a forehand into the net after 2 hours, 19 minutes.

Davenport's 49 winners was one more than the number of her unforced errors in an erratic match.

Her low ranking, No. 52, meant the winner of 54 tour titles was unseeded for the draw and put her on a collision course with last year's runner-up, Maria Sharapova, in the second round. Sharapova was to play Jelena Kostanic Tosic later Monday.

On the men's side, sixth-ranked Andy Roddick advanced with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 victory over Czech qualifier Lukas Dlouhy, who self-destructed with 12 double-faults in the first two sets.

Although he pounded 28 winners and committed just 11 unforced errors, Roddick needed to ride his big first serve into the second round, as the aggressive Dlouhy often had him on his back foot.

Second-ranked Rafael Nadal, the only player to beat Roger Federer at the last 10 Grand Slams -- at the last two French Opens -- played Viktor Troicki of Serbia and No. 9 Andy Murray had a challenging opener against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.

No. 11 Tommy Robredo rallied to fend off Mischa Zverev 4-6, 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4, 7-5; No. 24 Jarkko Nieminen outlasted Canada's Frank Dancevic 6-3, 6-1, 5-7, 2-6, 6-1; and No. 28 Gilles Simon beat American Bobby Reynolds 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-4.

In a match between two former finalists, 2003 runner-up Rainer Schuettler of Germany beat 2001 runner-up Arnaud Clement of France 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-4; while Mardy Fish, who combined with Serena Williams in the United States' Hopman Cup-winning team earlier this month, beat Serbia's Boris Pashanski 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

At her pre-tournament news conference, the seventh-seeded Williams said she had not even looked at who she was playing first because she was focussed on herself.

At 3-0 in the first set, the attitude seemed to be vindicated.

But then she stumbled, dropping her serve on three forehand errors. Instead of moving her feet, she was reaching for balls and surprised by some of the pace coming from the No. 145-ranked Gajdosova.

Williams held to lead 4-3, then slipped and fell onto her bottom on the new blue Plexicushion surface. She got up, and regained her focus and momentum.

She won the set with consecutive aces and then dropped just one of her last 16 points on serve and made only five unforced errors in the second set.

Gjadosova double-faulted to set up triple match point, then netted a forehand to finish off the match in 1 hour, two minutes.

"Yeah, I'm feeling good," Williams said after she jogged to the net with her left arm raised, index finger outstretched, to meet Gajdosova. "Most of all, I'm enjoying myself."

[Associated Press; By JOHN PYE]

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