Kimiko to meet Lourdes at Habtoor Tennis Challenge

Katerina Kramperova in action in her qualifying match against Elena Bogdan in the 17^th Al Habtoor Tennis challenge on Monday. Photo by Rahul Gajjar/ Khaleej Times

Dubai: Former world number four Kimiko Date-Krumm, coming back to top tier tennis after a two-month break due to a hip injury, had to use only a small part of her court craft to beat the US’ Alexandra Riley 6-0, 6-0 inside 40 minutes in Round 1, Monday evening.

The forty-four year old Japanese legend who this year lost narrowly in the US Open women’s doubles semis, now plays in a fewer number of events on the ITF and WTA circuits after her hip and knees started to trouble her at the beginning of the millennium.

Kimiko has won 8 WTA titles and 14 ITF crowns and is a three-time singles semifinalist at three Grand Slams. She now runs into the tough clay court expert Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain, who came out of the wilderness for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory in the first round against Danka Kovinic of Montenegro.

The second round clash at the 17^th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge 2014 on Wednesday promises great fare at the Dubai Marina location of the venue — the Habtoor Grand — and in all probability it will be an evening clash as Kimiko wished for on Monday after her short workout.

Kimiko said: “Hopefully I have a fixture arranged for the evening session on Wednesday against Lourdes who has always played well against me. Today (Monday) my hip was feeling better without much strain or pain. Lourdes is such a crafty player, she chips and slices so well to slow down a game when in trouble. Today (Monday) she overcame the strong Danka with whom I practised on Sunday.”

“Remember Lourdes is a regular world top 50 for so many seasons now, and I need to be playing defensively against her slow style, at least in the beginning,” Kimiko added.

Lourdes said: “I was so slow and out of depth in my shots and serve. Danka played forceful tennis, and all I could do was to cut down on the pace and make her returns fall shorter in the second and third sets.

“Danka I think was in a bit of a hurry and committed many errors, luckily for me.”

Danka wrapped up the first set against Lourdes in hardly 20 minutes but that was the furthest she went after Lourdes, the current Spanish number 6, sliced, chipped and volleyed with the occasional lob and drop shot.

Set 2 and 3 was a cruise for the Spanish veteran whose date with Kimiko will be the feature game, Wednesday evening. The feature match (Kimiko v Lourdes) on Wednesday takes place at 3.30pm, it was confirmed late on Monday evening at the tournament office.

Kimiko’s job in round one was made easier when Alexandra could not standup to the deep cross court returns, and she made too many unforced errors on her forehand.

In the first main draw all-Ukrainian singles match after the morning’s qualifier event on Monday, Maryana Zanevska retired when trailing 0-3 against Nadia Kichenok.

Slovakia’s world number 53 and the defending champ here, Jana Cepelova, is the top seed this year and she has been drawn up against Russia’s Alexandra Panova.

Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium, the second seed, plays a qualifier in her first round on Tuesday.

In the bottom half of the draw, third seed Tereza Smitkova of the Czech Republic have a match versus Belgium’s An-Sophie Mestach and fourth seed Anna-Lena Friedsam has a qualifier to contend with before she can book a second round berth.

moni@khaleejtimes.com