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Journalism of Courage
Ai Sugiyama took just 50 minutes to sweep aside Russia’s Lina Krasnoroutskaya 6-2 6-3 to reach the second round of the Dubai Open on Tuesday. The number five seed from Japan mixed up her game well and although Krasnoroutskaya sometimes troubled her with a big forehand she was far too erratic to offer a real challenge.
Sugiyama’s biggest problem came in closing out the match, dropping her serve with a double-fault at 5-2 before earning her fifth break of the match to end the contest in the next game.
“It wasn’t as easy as the score suggested,” said Sugiyama. “She hit the ball very hard, but she missed a lot…that helped me a lot. I didn’t make that many mistakes.
“I’m really happy with the way I played. It’s not easy for me to get into the rhythm, coming from Japan. It was cold and here it’s great weather,” she said, adding she had also been suffering from a cold and fever before leaving Tokyo. Sugiyama is at a career-high world ranking of eight but has not set herself any specific targets for the year. “I’ll just try to get better,” she said. “It’s tough now to get even a little bit higher, and I try not to think about rankings. “I’ll work on the physical part, which is my weapon.”
Meanwhile, Jennifer Capriati said on Monday she feared a back injury suffered at the end of last season could have ended her career.
The former world number one opens her season this week at the Dubai Open, her first tournament since the WTA Championships in November.
