Myskina manages first win of season on clay

By Bill Scott May 16, 2006, 0:21 GMT

Rome - Former French Open champion Anastasia Myskina won her first match of the season on clay Monday, squeezing past Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6) to reach the second round of the 1.34-million-dollar Rome Masters.

Myskina, seeded tenth, has won only two trophies since her surprise success in Paris nearly two years ago.

Her delayed clay start this spring was marked by a first-round upset loss in Warsaw this month.

The world number 13 has a modest record at the Foro Italico, with 2002 and 2004 quarter-final appearances her best performances.

But progress by other Russian's on the day was halted as Italy stuck back for the hosts, with 40th-ranked Mara Santangelo defeating Maria Kirilenko 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Swiss comeback queen Martina Hingis returned to Rome for the first time in five years, crushing an Italian qualifier to reach the second round in style.

Hingis, unseeded in Rome though ranked 21 in the world, was untroubled by number 219 Sara Errani, winning 6-0, 6-1, as her return to the game heads towards its sixth month.

Ninth seed Venus Williams, whom Hingis beat for back-to-back titles in 1998 and 1999, advanced at only her third event of the season, defeating Czech Zuzana Ondraskova 6-3, 6-2.

Hingis, a veteran at 25 who won all five of her Grand Slam crowns before turning 20, took just 55 minutes to give Errani a lesson in tennis.

After returning to the game in January, coming out of a three-year retirement, Hingis is back in her element.

'It's all coming together on clay. I'm more confident now,' said the two-time Roland Garros finalist. 'I've played some good matches.'

She reached the quarterfinals in Berlin last week, her second event on the surface.

'Now I don't need to be nervous about winning first or second round. I feel like if I do well and I know where my game is, then I should go through those matches.'

Against Errani, Hingis ran out to a 6-0, 4-0 lead before the challenger even won a game.

'My level dropped a bit in the closing stages of the match, but I got it all back,' said Hingis.

In the second round, Hingis will face 12th-seeded Czech Nicole Vaidisova, who put out Finn Emma Laine 5-7, 6-1, 6-3.

A foot injury forced Maria Sharapova to withdraw a day before the Rome start, joining two-time champion Amelie Mauresmo, the Australian Open champion, as a high-profile absentee from the tournament.