Peer away to a flying start

January 8, 2006

Former Australian Open girls' singles champion Shahar Peer of Israel made the perfect start to her Richard Luton Properties Canberra International campaign today.

Drawn against former world No.18 and Wimbledon quarter-finalist Karolina Sprem of Croatia, Peer played with patience, power and poise to win in straight sets 7-5, 6-3.

After breaking early to take a 2-0 lead, Peer, 18, was pegged back by the hard hitting Sprem, who served for the first set at 5-4. Peer, who won the  junior title at Melbourne Park in 2004, managed to break back and then closed it out 7-5.

The tournament fourth seed, who reached a career-high ranking of No.45 in 2005 dominated the second set to move through to the next round. She will be joined there by fifth seed Roberta Vinci of Italy who won a tough match 6-4, 6-4 over Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela.

The news was not as good for eighth seed Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden who crashed out of the tournament after a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Yoon Jeong Cho of Korea.

Sophie Ferguson opens against qualifier Tatiana Poutchek.

First round action continues tomorrow with two Australian wildcards in action. Sydney’s Sophie Ferguson will open proceedings on centre court against qualifier Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus. Queenslander Shayna McDowell will then play the final match of the day against third seed Lucie Safarova.

The in form Safarova, who collected her third WTA title on the Gold Coast last week, said she didn’t know what to expect against McDowell. "It is the first time we have played and I haven’t seen her play before,"  Safarova said. "I am looking forward to the match."