Tennis: Heated experience gives Erakovic edge

Marina Erakovic. Photo / Getty Images

Marina Erakovic kept her cool in a fearsome midday sun yesterday, cruising into the second round of the Commonwealth Games women's singles in New Delhi.

Erakovic's match against Nikki Fountain, of the Bahamas, began just before noon local time with the temperatures hitting 32C and humidity also a factor.

But the Aucklander, whose world ranking of 321 makes her the sixth seed in the 24-player draw, needed only 41 minutes to win 6-1, 6-0.

Erakovic used her "ice sausage", a towel placed in a drinks chilly bin, to help her cool down and was grateful that the contest was over quickly.

"The points were quite short and it wasn't that hard today," she said. "I think in a few days I'll get used to it. You just have to drink a lot and be in the shade a lot."

Having played in Asia many times in recent years, Erakovic said the heat was something she was familiar with.

"The Fed Cup in Malaysia was the hottest ever," she said. "It's something you get used to and something the tennis players have to deal with."

The New Zealander didn't drop service against Fountain, who has no world ranking. But she admitted to early nerves because she knew so little about her opponent and didn't know how she would play.

"I thought the first few games would be shaky and I was a little nervous," she said. "But I managed to get going and hit the ball, and in the end it worked pretty well."

Erakovic's next singles match is tomorrow against Bermuda's Jacklyn Lambert, who had an equally comfortable victory over Ugandan Jalia Nanfuka, winning 6-0, 6-1.

Erakovic said she fancied her chances of going deep into the Games tournament, but would take it one game at a time.

She was due to be back on court overnight, after only four hours' rest, for a first-round mixed doubles match with Rubin Statham as her partner.

They will face third seeds Sarah Borwell and Kenneth Skupski, of England.

Statham will open his men's singles campaign today when, as the No 6 seed, he will meet Hayden Lewis, of Barbados.

* * *

Martin Knight demolished Hardeep Reel, of Kenya, in straight games to hand New Zealand a dominant start to their Games squash campaign.

Leeds-based Knight won 11-3, 11-2, 11-5 on the impressive Games show court, needing just 25 minutes to win the first-round encounter. He regularly outwitted Reel, whose propensity for loose shots kept him on the back foot in most rallies.

Fifteenth-seed Knight varied his play well, but didn't have to do more than produce solid squash to make a second-round encounter, scheduled for early this morning.

The match was played in front of a sparse crowd in the spectacular 3000-seat arena.

* * *

The New Zealand men's triple made a superb start to the bowls tournament, achieving the rare feat of a whitewash.

Andrew Todd, Shannon McIlroy and skip Richard Girvan blitzed Wales 13-0, 16-0 in the opening round of section play at Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex.

There was also a comfortable win for the women's pair of Manu Timoti and Jan Khan, who downed Botswana 17-5, 15-5.

Both combinations are in action again this afternoon.

The women's triple of Genevieve Baildon, Dale Lang and Karen Coombe and the men's pair of Richard Collett and Danny Delany start their events tonight.

- NZPA