By Etienne Stekelenburg
September 2 2004

Japans Ai Sugiyama defeated Argentinean Gisela Dulko from in two sets and equals the head-to-head one all. Daniela Hantuchova only needed two sets against Alicia Molik from Australia, Amelie Mauresmo wins after a slow start from Julia Vakulenko from Ukraine. Ai Sugiyama is through to the next round after defeating Gisela Dulko from Argentina. The No.12 Sugiyama had no problems beating promising youngster Dulko, she had the match in her hands right from the start. Dulko seemed to get back into the match at the start of the second set but failed to give Sugiyama a hard time on court. In 62 minutes the Japanese advanced to the third round winning the match 6-2, 6-4.

Alicia Molik said, “You can’t win them all, today was a bad day at the office.” The Australian took her loss and moves on to the next tournament. She was very disappointed about her losing the match but she realizes there are other matches in the future to think about. “I have a talk with my coach about it and we move on”.

Daniela Hantuchova moves on to the third round after winning 6-4, 6-3 against the 17th seed Molik who took the lead in the match but could not prevent Hantuchova taking the next four games winning the first set. Molik also took a service break from the Slovakian but could not manage to hold the lead. Hantuchova will meet Patty Schnyder in the third round.

French Amelie Mauresmo had a much tougher match but came back into the match to win it in three sets. Ukrainian Julia Vakulenko took the first set 6-3 after taking a 4-0 lead. It seemed that Mauresmo was losing point instead of the Ukrainian winning them. Mauresmo held a low average of 40% first serves and hit 15 unforced errors to lose the first set.

In the second set Mauresmo’s service percentage reached 61 and she started to hit winners and less errors. This change in the match won the Frenchwoman the second set 6-2. In the third set she also took advantage of a better serve and hitting winners instead of errors.

The deciding set also went to Mauresmo to advance to the third round. She will now meet Maria Vento-Kabchi from Venezuela.

(15) Patty Schnyder (SUI) d. Iveta Benesova (CZE) 64 61
(12) Ai Sugiyama (JPN) d. Gisela Dulko (ARG) 62 64
Jelena Kostanic (CRO) d. (Q) Eugenia Linetskaya (RUS) 64 63
Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) d. (17) Alicia Molik (AUS) 64 63
Maria Vento-Kabchi (VEN) d. (Q) Julia Schruff (GER) 61 26 62
(30) Tatiana Golovin (FRA) d. Akiko Morigami (JPN) 64 64
(3) Serena Williams (USA) d. Lindsay Lee-Waters (USA) 64 63
(2) Amelie Mauresmo (FRA) d. Julia Vakulenko (UKR) 36 62 62
(6) Elena Dementieva (RUS) d. (Q) Severine Beltrame (FRA) 63 62
(10) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Els Callens (BEL) 63 63
(WC) Angela Haynes (USA) d. (22) Magdalena Maleeva (BUL) 62 63
(16) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. (Q) Stephanie Foretz (FRA) 62 63
Vera Douchevina (RUS) d. Marion Bartoli (FRA) 57 62 62(
8) Jennifer Capriati (USA) d. Magui Serna (ESP) 60 62
(28) Nathalie Dechy (FRA) d. Cara Black (ZIM) 62 75
(23) Fabiola Zuluaga (COL) d. Tathiana Garbin (ITA) 63 67(7) 62