Mauresmo eases through in Dubai

AMELIE MAURESMO barely broke sweat in cruising past Vera Dushevina to secure a place in the quarter-finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships yesterday.

The Frenchwoman wasn’t due to take part in the United Arab Emirates, but she accepted a late invitation to be added to the field after fellow big-draws Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova pulled out suffering from ‘flu and a hamstring injury respectively.

She is certainly making the most of the opportunity and, having received a first round bye, proved too strong for qualifier Dushevina, beating the Russian 6-2 6-2.

Less than 72-hours before taking to the court in Dubai, Mauresmo was clutching a £700,000 (€1.04m) diamond-studded racquet in Antwerp after beating home favourite Kim Clijsters to win the Belgian event for the third consecutive time.

But fatigue did not look a factor against the 21-year-old Dushevina, who battled gamely but simply did not have the weapons to trouble the world number three.

Even when Mauresmo gave away three double faults in a row, Dushevina never looked like offering her serious competition.

The transition from the indoor courts at Antwerp to the outdoor event in Dubai didn’t appear to trouble the French star despite her concerns before the game that she might take time to adjust.

“I felt comfortable out there,” said a relaxed Mauresmo after the game. I managed to find some rhythm. I’m very happy and I’m very glad that I won through this match in the way that I did and I’m looking forward to playing another good match tomorrow.

“She came out with some good shots but I didn’t let her get into her rhythm right from the beginning. I was trying to come to the net as well as I could.

“The court is obviously very slow and the balls are flying quite high.”

Today, Mauresmo will come up against Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova, who earlier yesterday saw off Russian Maria Kirilenko in a third-set tie-break.

“I saw a little bit of her match with Kirilenko and I saw that she really fought very hard to go through,” added Mauresmo.

“She is always tough and she can hit a winner from any part of the court. But today I felt in control.

“I just went out there and got it done.”