Tennis: Another defeat for Erakovic

New Zealand tennis No 1 Marina Erakovic has played her final match ahead of the French Open after being knocked out of the Strasbourg WTA tournament in the first round by Japanese nemesis Ayumi Morita.

Erakovic, the tournament's sixth seed, has never beaten Morita in five attempts and succumbed 6-1 6-3 in their rain-affected match. Morita led 5-1 when rain intervened yesterday and she picked up where she left off 24 hours later to win comfortably.

Erakovic will now head to Paris to prepare for the French Open, which starts at Roland Garros on Sunday night (NZT). The draw comes out on Saturday morning (NZT).