Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez became the first winner on the second day of the Olympic tennis event after blitzing Australian Alicia Molik as quick wins are essential on a day with 65 scheduled matches.
Just two hours and 12 minutes of play on a very rainy opening day leaving organisers presiding over one or two more intensive days to come if they are to haul the schedule back to where it needs to be.
James Blake and Nikolay Davydenko lead a list of only nine winners on Sunday, with 10 more matches started but not finished.
It was a bad day for Athens bronze medalist Molik compiled 40 unforced errors and even did not have a break point while the Spaniard broke five times in the 58-minute match.
Another quick win came from Russian ninth seed Vera Zvonareva, who wrapped up a 6-2, 6-0 win over China's Yan Zi.
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Yan Zi returns a ball against Vera Zvonareva. [Xinhua] |
"The opponent put a lot of pressure on the baseline, and I made too many mistakes," said Yan.
"In the pre-Olympics practice, I paid much attention to doubles, I think it is more important to me."
To a noisy home crowd, Yan became another casualty of unforced errors, registering 42 to only 24 of her Russian opponent. Yan, having won the Grand Slam two times in doubles event, only managed one break but lost six serves of her own.
In men's part, 13th seed Mikhail Youzhny needed only 64 minutes to power past Czech Jiri Vanek while Argentine number one David Nalbandian eased through China's Zeng Shaoxuan in 66 minutes, putting an end to the trip of all Chinese men players.
(Xinhua News Agency August 11, 2008)