ROGERS CUP: Justine's winning return to the scene - 網球

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ROGERS CUP: Justine's winning return to the scene
18/08/2005:

Justine won her first match played since the rare early round exit at
Wimbledon two months ago. She defeated Argentine Mariana Diaz-Oliva 6-1, 6-3
in a 2nd rounder that displayed a few bits of rust, but mainly showcased the
confidence of a player aware of her craft.

The match started out fairly simple for Justine, and she dashed out to a
clean 2-0 lead. Not showing much of the edgy demeanor, which popped up this
spring in her first round matches at other tournaments, Diaz-Oliva only
manages 1 game in this first set. Justine put constant pressure on every ball
hit by the Argentine, and the short replies did Diaz-Oliva no favours.
Diaz-Oliva did play some good points, but it simply wasn't on the same gear
as Justine's Formula 1 level of tennis. In 33 minutes the first set was over
at 6-1.

The second set featured more of Justine, and her dominance in a gear far
above the norm. Diaz-Oliva showed the courage, and fighting attitude that has
brought Argentina many rewards. Diaz-Oliva took advantage of backhand errors,
and a few bits of uncompromising 2nd serves played like first serves at 160
km from the Belgian to halt matchpoints from 5-1. She may play Formula 1
level tennis, but Justine is human, and not a machine, errors on set points
do happen. Justine finally converted matchpoint at 6-3 in 41 minutes.

Final score 6-1, 6-3

Justine's next round opponent will be Jie Zheng, one of the recent new faces
to brighten the WTA from China, and the winner of Hobart earlier in the
season. Zheng defeated Ai Sugiyama earlier today 2-6, 7-6(8), 6-3. This will
be the first career meeting between Justine and Zheng.

Stay tuned for more match time details for Justine's next round.


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