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Davenport, Sharapova pull out
02/11/2005 10:03 - (SA)
Philadelphia - Third-seeded Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo's path to a third straight WTA Tour title in Philadelphia got suddenly smoother on Tuesday as top seeds Lindsay Davenport and Maria Sharapova withdrew.
Top seeded Davenport of the US and second-seeded Russian Sharapova withdrew from the $585 000 indoor hardcourt tournament as the second day of play saw first-round action continue.
Davenport, the world number one, was diagnosed with the flu, while Sharapova recently suffered a right thumb sprain during off-court training.
"I'm very disappointed that I am unable to play the Advanta Championships this week," Davenport said. "I'm looking forward to getting healthy and defending my year-end No1 ranking at the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships in Los Angeles next week."
Davenport, Sharapova, third seed Mauresmo and No. 4 Elena Dementieva of Russia all have first-round byes.
Davenport was to have faced Slovakian Martina Sucha, who downed lucky loser Stephanie Foretz of France on Tuesday, 6-1, 5-7, 6-1, while Sharapova would have met American Lisa Raymond who beat Australian Samantha Stosur 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 6-1 in a late match on Tuesday.
The winner here for the past two years, Mauresmo will meet Ai Sugiyama of Japan in the second round. Sugiyama defeated Czech Iveta Benesova 7-5, 6-4.
Dementieva will meet German qualifier Angelika Bachmann in the second round. Dementieva needs to reach the semi-finals to surpass Wimbledon champion Venus Williams for the final spot in next week's WTA Tour Championships in Los Angeles.
Also on Tuesday, 16-year-old Bulgarian Sesil Karatantcheva upset ninth-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva, 7-5, 6-3. Karatantcheva will face either American veteran Jill Craybas or Czech Kveta Peschke in the second round.
In the only other match involving a seed Tuesday, seventh-seeded Czech Nicole Vaidisova routed German qualifier Vanessa Henke 6-1, 6-1.
- AFP
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