By Etienne Stekelenburg
February 18 2004

Karolina Sprem of Croatia Defeats Cara Black of Zimbabwe in two sets 6-4 6-3. Local favorite Kim Clijsters had an easy match against Aranxta Parra from Spain 6-3 6-2 and Italian Silvia Farina Elia defeats Els Callens from Antwerp 3-6 6-2 6-1. Earlier in the day Ukrainian Julia Vakulenko defeated Alexandra Stevenson of the USA 6-3 6-1.

Iveta Benesova from the Czech Republic ousted Greek Eleni Daniliidou also in two sets 7-5 6-4.

The tournament is somewhat troubled with injured players. Lucky Losers had to fill the voids left by the players who could not turn up or had to cancel their match due injuries.

Latest in the list of injured players was Elena Dementieva who canceled her match late last night. She was forced to withdraw due to a back injury. After spending some time in an Antwerp hospital the doctors said three needs rest was needed to heal a little tear in a dorsal muscle.

Dementieva is the last in line of absentees. Jennifer Capriati, Amelie Mauresmo, Ai Sugiyama and Venus Williams had to withdraw or cancel their trip to Antwerp. Substitute for Mauresmo Jelena Dokic, who the organization aimed for, also didn’t show up.

Outside the injury cases, Tournament Director Bob Verbeeck got several requests for a chance of schedule. Mary Pierce wanted to start as late as possible, same question was asked by Kim Clijsters and both players got what they wanted.

Since Verbeeck had made his arrangements with Justine Henin-Hardenne when she was in Australia, Henin-Hardenne was scheduled to play her match earlier in the week.

This was reason for some commotion when Justine Henin-Hardenne told the Belgian newspaper ‘De Morgen’ that Kim Clijsters gets a special treatment.

Bob Verbeeck recognized the error he made and held a ‘Mea Culpa’ speech. He didn’t think of the consequences when he agreed the terms with Pierce and Clijsters. Justine Henin-Hardenne was also scheduled later for her first match. The organization had to find a way to notify the sold ticket holders for the day Henin-Hardenne was scheduled.

Verbeeck explained ticket holder had three options, a refund, a ticket for another day or using the ticket and enjoying a special program. Verbeeck told he got many positive replies from ticket holders about the choices.