Bjorkman, Novak eliminated

Bjorkman, Novak eliminated
Agencies

Copenhagen, February 15: Seeded players Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Czech Jiri Novak were knocked out of the $350,000 ATP men’s tennis event in first round matches here yesterday. Fifth seed Bjorkman, handicapped by a painful ankle, was beaten by 96th world-ranked Czech Michael Tabara 6-4, 6-4 and eighth seed Novak was a 6-4, 6-3 victim of Denmark’s 20-year-old wild card entry Kristian Pless. Fourth seed and title holder Andreas Vinciguerra of Sweden, however, is already through to the third round following his 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) win over American Paul Goldstein.

Pierce ousted
doha: France’s second seed Mary Pierce was beaten 6-4, 5-7, 6-0 by Czech Republic’s Adriana Gersi in the second round of the $170,000 WTA event here yesterday to maintain her wretched run of form. The French Open champion, who received a first round bye, started confidently to motor to a 3-0 lead but then Gersi’s service proved effective as she fought back to win the first set.

Other seeds in action included Pierce’s compatriot and third seed Sandrine Testud who beat Miriam Oremans of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-1 in the first round and Austria’s fourth seed Barbara Schett beat Uzbekistan’s Iroda Tulyaganova 6-7 (1-7), 6-2, 6-1 in a second round match.

Pin blunted
Nice: Russian teenager Elena Dementieva beat France’s Camille Pin 6-3, 6-4 to qualify yesterday for the quarter-finals of the $535,000 WTA tournamant here. Number four seed Dementieva, 19, forced Pin, ranked just 247th in the world, into a series of errors and several double faults.

Meilen Tu of the United States, who knocked out sixth seed Amy Frazier in the previous round, also reached the quarter-finals after winning a hard-fought match against Spain’s Magui Serna 6-4, 6-7 (8-6), 7-5. She will meet top seed Venus Williams of the US who ousted Anne-Gaelle Sidot of France 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (8-6).

French duo win
Marseille: Sweden’s top seed Magnus Norman beat Belgium’s Olivier Rochus 7-6 (10-8), 7-5 in the first round of this $500,000 ATP event. France led 2-0 over Croatia as Australian Open finalist and third seed Arnaud Clement beat Goran Ivanisevic 6-4, 6-3 and fourth seed Sebastien Grosjean beat Ivan Ljubicic 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).