Tennis: Walkover for top seed in Wellington tournament

Top seed Shelley Stephens reached the second round without hitting a ball today and her path to Sunday's final of the Wellington women's international tennis tournament does not look much more taxing.

The 22-year-old New Zealand No 1 was scheduled to meet Nicole Sewell in the first round of the $US10,000
($NZ23,000) Futures Tour event but the Australian
was one of three overseas players who failed to show at the Renouf Centre today.

Indonesia's Angelique Widjaja and San Marino's
Ludmila Varmuza will also be slapped with $US300 fines for failing to notify the International Tennis Federation in London of their decision to bypass the Wellington tournament.

Unfortunately for tournament director Kevin Wilson Widjaja and Varmuza were the sixth and seventh seeds
respectively and have left the top-half of the draw,
which includes Stephens, considerably weakened.

``Naturally we're disappointed but more so for the players because we quite clearly have a lop-sided draw now,'' Wilson said.

``Shelley (Stephens) has a good path now whereas someone like Tracey O'Connor, who won the Wellington Open last weekend and has come into some real form,
must wonder what she's done to deserve a draw
like hers.''

Otago's Stephens, with a Women's Tennis Association (WTA) singles ranking of 322, should have little trouble accounting for world No 1252 Cassandra Barr, of
Australia, in tomorrow's second round and looks unlikely to be tested until Saturday's semifinals
were she is seeded to meet third-seeded Aucklander
Ilke Gers.

Gers faces Manawatu teenager Natalie Dean tomorrow after being one of only two first round victors to be taken to three sets today. South African-born Gers
eventually overcame gritty Australian Emily Hewson 6-3 5-7 6-1.

Second seed Leanne Baker took the court today but did not have much more trouble than Stephens in progressing, thumping Moldova qualifier Angela
Ahtemenciuc 6-0 6-0 in just 25 minutes.

Ahtemenciuc took just eight points off the Waikato world No 357 who meets New Zealand 18s champion Dianne
Hollands tomorrow.

Hollands put out Lower Hutt mother of four Julie Scott today but not before Scott, who celebrates her 32nd
birthday tomorrow, took the first set 6-4 before
dropping the next two 6-0 6-2.

Tomorrow's feature second round match-up pits unseeded
Aucklander O'Connor against pint-sized Chinese Taipei 14-year-old Su-Wei Hsieh.

O'Connor continued on from her impressive Wellington Open victory last weekend when she sent Japanese fifth seed Keiko Tameishi tumbling 6-1 6-0 today.

But she will have her hands full with the tournament's youngest and smallest player, Hsieh. The world's No 5
ranked 14-year-old made short work of eliminating
Hungarian qualifier Bibi Berecz 6-2 6-2 on a backcourt last night.

Hsieh plays both her forehand and backhand
shots two-handed, has a deadly drop-shot and lob and generates considerable power despite her lack of size.

- NZPA