Molik captures first Tour win since return

There couldn’t have been a better time for Alicia Molik to capture her first win on the WTA Tour since making her return to the game earlier in May, as she became the lone Australian to advance to the second round on the second day at Roland Garros.

After failing to win a singles match prior to the French major, the 25-year-old wildcard used the valuable court-time and confidence gained from reaching the doubles final at Istanbul last week to overcome Italy’s Antonella Serra Zanetti 7-5 7-6(3) and book a second round match against little-known Romanian qualifier Anda Perianu.

In the weeks leading into Roland Garros, Molik had struggled through three tough first round losses, including being beaten by compatriot Casey Dellacqua at Gifu and a 6-2 6-0 thrashing by Slovenia’s world No.28 Katarina Srebotnik.

While Molik battled to victory, a couple of the Aussie men were bundled out of the tournament, leaving No.14 seed Lleyton Hewitt to carry the nation’s hopes once again.

Wayne Arthurs was clearly rusty from not having appeared on the ATP Tour since February due to the birth of his first child, while Nathan Healey’s dogged determination was only enough to steal one set from Croatian 12th seed Mario Ancic.

Arthurs was outclassed by Spanish clay-court specialist Nicolas Almagro, going down 7-5 6-2 6-2, while Australian wildcard winner Healey eventually succumbed to a 6-3 4-6 7-6(3) 6-1 defeat after struggling with the rigours of the slower surface.

In other notable results on Monday, popular women’s second seed Kim Clijsters, Venus Williams, and a cast of serious contenders, including Elena Dementieva, Patty Schnyder, and Svetlana Kuznetsova, all advanced to the next round with little trouble.

In the men’s draw, Spanish No.2 seed Rafael Nadal clinched an Open Era record 54th consecutive clay court victory by trouncing Robin Soderling 6-2 7-5 6-1 to advance to the second round. Joining him in Monday’s winner circle were No.6 seed Nikolay Davydenko, eighth seed James Blake, and former champions Juan Carlos Ferrero and Gaston Gaudio, while Finnish No.16 seed Jarkko Nieminen became the first men’s seed to exit the tournament.

While in-form Russian No.3 seed Nadia Petrova, Swiss Miss Martina Hingis, and Croatian men’s fourth seed Ivan Ljubicic headline Tuesday’s action, Australia’s highest-ranked players, Hewitt and Samantha Stosur, are also scheduled to begin their 2006 French Open campaigns overnight.

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