LADYDRAGON.COM - Opening matches at the Bell Challenge 2009

Tuesday September 15, 2009

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Sabine Lisicki withdraw from the Bell Challenge 2009

Opening matches at the Bell Challenge 2009

Bell Challenge 2009 Draws and Players

Opening matches at the Bell Challenge 2009

The opening match for the 2009 edition of the Bell Challenge, presented by Banque Nationale, starred Canadian Rebecca Marino (no. 200) and American Lauren Albanese (no. 166). The 18-year-old Marino will be moving on to the next round after offering a great performance, winning 6-3, 6-4. In the last match of the evening, another Canadian, world number 161 Valerie Tetreault, faced Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (no. 117) from Czech Republic. Tetreault pleased the local crowd by winning in two sets of 6-2, 6-1.

Earlier today, in the qualifying finals, eight players fought for the four spots remaining in the main draw. In the first match presented on the Bell central court, Russia’s Olga Puchkova fell to Mallory Cecil from the United States in two sets of 6-4, 6-1. The loser turned out lucky, when seed number two Sabine Lisicki from Germany withdrew from the tournament due to an ankle injury. Puchkova will therefore join the four qualifiers in the main draw as “lucky loser”. Also, the first seed of the qualifying draw Georgia’s Anna Tatishvili faced South Africa’s Nathalie Grandin. Tatishvili won in two sets of 6-3, 7-6(10). For her part, Switzerland’s Amra Sadikovic disposed of American Megan Moulton-Levy in two sets of 7-6(3), 7-6(4) and over two hours of competition. Finally, the match starring the American Lilia Osterloh and the Hungarian Greta Arn ended with a final score of 6-3, 6-2 in favour of Osterloh.

Six other main draw players made their debut in this edition of the Bell Challenge in their first round match today. In the first contest, the American Jill Craybas, seed number six, smashed her fellow American rival Laura Granville in two sets of 6-0, 6-1. After the next match between Australia’s Monique Adamczak and Hungary’s Melinda Czink (seed no. 5), the latter will be moving on to the second round thanks to a 6-3, 7-6(1) score in her favour. The last match of the afternoon opposed Katie O’Brien from the UK to Russia’s Alla Kudryavtseva (seed no. 3). Kudryavtseva had the upper hand and won in two sets of 6-3, 6-0.

To conclude the afternoon session, two doubles matches were also presented. The team formed of Anna Tatishvili and Italy’s Corinna Dentoni won over the American Raquel Kops-Jones and her partner Sarah Borwell from the UK with a final score of 6-3, 6-0. Brazil’s Maria Fernanda Alves and Argentina’s Jorgelina Cravero also came out winner from their match against the American duo formed of Madison Brengle and Lilia Osterloh in two identical sets of 6-2.

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour is the world’s leading professional sport for women with more than 2,200 players representing 96 nations competing for more than $86 million in prize money at the Tour’s 51 events and four Grand Slams in 31 countries. More than 4.8 million people attended women’s tennis events in 2008 with millions more watching events on television networks around the world. The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour season concludes with the Sony Ericsson Championships – Doha 2009 in Doha, Qatar, from October 27-November 1, and the inaugural Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali, Indonesia from November 4-8.