Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2008-06-18

(BEIJING, June 18) — Former World No 1 tennis player Amelie Mauresmo beat fellow French No 6 seed Alize Cornet in three sets in the first round at the International Women’s Open in Eastbourne, England.

Mauresmo’s career has been going backwards due to severe injuries. She has fallen down to No 30 in the Sony Ericsson Women’s Tour Association (WTA) rankings in the first half of the year.

The opening set was easily won by Mauresmo who held three out of five break points to win the set 6-1.

However, 18-year-old Cornet rallied in the second set, which she won 6-4 to level the contest. Both players held their own service games five times each in the third set, until Mauresmo finally broke her younger opponent’s service game to win the deciding set, 7-5.

Afterwards, the 2006 Wimbledon champion was satisfied with her opening round performance: “I made a good start today. My aggression dipped a bit in the second set but then in the third I began to play more aggressively again and things evened out.”

The match lasted one hour and fifty-five minutes and Mauresmo served three aces and won four break points.

Mauresmo is a good grass court player and says she feels at home playing on this surface. “I really love the grass,” she added. “Playing on it feels natural to me, and it suits my game.”

She was runner-up at Eastbourne last year when she was beaten in the final by the recently-retired Belgian player, Justine Henin.

Mauresmo will face former world No 1 doubles player, Samantha Stosur of Australia in the second round, who defeated home favorite Katie O’Brien of England, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round.

The Sony Ericsson WTA International Women’s Open at Eastbourne runs between June 16 – 22 and is a traditional warm up event for the All-England championships at Wimbledon.