In
other matches, former No. 1-ranked Ana Ivanovic beat Tamira Paszek of
Austria 6-3, 6-3 and American Vania King beat Melinda Czink of Hungary
6-3, 6-4.
Sam Stosur, who beat Williams for the U.S. Open title, plays her opening match at Pat Rafter Arena on Monday night.
Top-seeded
Andy Murray plays his opening men’s match on Tuesday. On Monday, Denis
Istoman of Uzbekistan advanced when Florian Mayer of Germany retired
with an undisclosed injury while trailing 7-6 (5), 2-3.
Ivanovic
will play Australian Open defending champion Kim Clijsters in the
second round, one of the toughest either player has faced so early in a
tournament.
The last time the two players met, former French Open champion Ivanovic blew five match points at Miami last March.
Ivanovic
had three break points when leading 5-1 in the deciding set before
Clijsters came back to win 7-6 (4), 3-6, 7-6 (5) and improve her career
record with Ivanovic to 4-0.
“Last time it was a hard one for me,” Ivanovic said on Monday.
“It
would be nice to convert a match point. I will go out there and test
myself, push and see how far away I am from the top players.”
Ivanovic finished 2011 outside the top 20 for just the second time since 2004 after a series of injuries.
“Hopefully this time I can take it a step further,” Ivanovic said.
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