Hollands & Jones Ready For Second Round Matches At Configure Express Tennis Tournament In wellington

Two Kiwi-born players will take the court as the second round of US$25,000 Configure Express Pro women’s tennis Challenger at the Renouf Tennis Centre in Wellington continues.

Christchurch-based Di Hollands moved through the first round after an indifferent victory over North Harbour teenager Mia Middleton. The 6-1 7-5 win pits Hollands, aged 28 against seventh seed Sung-Hee Han(Korea) at 11am on Thursday. Han won her first round match without dropping a game against Australian qualifier Alexandra Cannizzaro and is ranked at 334 compared to Hollands at 948.

Hollands, who is playing in her first pro tournament since July last year plans to make 2012 a full 12 months on the circuit after suffering all sorts of illness’s, injuries and family commitments which have kept her on and off the circuit in the past few years.

“I want to give it another go and really commit to it (playing professionally again) and hopefully there will be no major interruptions,” says Hollands who was reasonably satisfied with her first round win. “my attitude is good and I’m feeling good to be back on the court and appreciating the competition. I was happy to serve well at end and I want to go out and battle hard in my second round match,” she said.

Auckland’s Sacha Jones who represents Australia will face Japan’s Makoto Ninomiya in the second round. The Japanese player is ranked around 800 compared to Jones at 228, however Ninomiya has the traditional Asia grit of running every ball down and being super consistent with her shots, which will mean Jones will have to fully focus if she is to make the quarterfinals.

Top seed Chanel Simmonds showed why she is ranked just inside the world’s top 200 as a teenager and why she won three tournaments of the same standing last year as well as six others in previous years. Simmonds, 19 defeated Rebecca Leahy(Australia) 6-2 6-0 to set up a clash with Japan’s Yurina Koshino in the second round.

Top Kiwi junior Emily Fanning found the going tough in her first round singles losing to Japan’s Mai Minokoshi 6-1 6-1, over-hitting a number of shots against her more consistent opponent in the blustery conditions.

The only real upset of the first round was third seeded Australian Monique Adamczak at 250 losing to Japan’s Risa Ozaki ranked at 933 in straight sets. In doubles quarterfinals Waikato’s Luci Barlow and Auckland junior Claudia Williams were defeated by the Chinese pair of Ying Ying Duan and Yue Yue Hu 6-3 6-0.

The tournament continues until the singles final on Sunday.

Configure Express Pro US$25,000 Women’s Challenger tournament, Renouf Tennis Centre.
Results:
First round singles:
(1)Chanel Simmonds(Sth Africa) bt Rebecca Leahy(Australia) 6-2 6-0
Risa Ozaki(Japan) bt (3)Monique Adamczak(Australia) Mai Minokoshi(Japan) bt Emily Fanning(New Zealand)6-1 6-1
Di Hollands(New Zealand) bt Mia Middleton(New Zealand) 6-1 7-5, Yurina Koshino(Japan) bt Sina Haas(Germany) 7-5 6-3,
Nicola Geuer(Germany) bt Anna Fitzpatrick(United Kingdom) 6-2 6-2, (7)Sung-Hee Han(Korea) bt Alexandra Cannizzaro(Australia) 6-0 6-0
(4)Arina Rodionova(Russia) bt Chiaki Okadaue(Japan) 6-1 6-2
quarterfinals doubles:
Sung-Hee Han(Korea)/Yurina Koshino(Japan) bt Nives Baric/Rebecca Leahy(Australia) 6-4 6-2, Ying Ying Duan/Yue Yue(China) bt Luci Barlow/Claudia Williams(New Zealand)6-3 6-0, v Duan/Hu

Order of Play 1 March, Configure Express Pro US$25,000 Women’s Challenger tournament, Renouf Tennis Centre.
All second round singles:
Court 1
11am start
(1)Chanel Simmonds(Sth Africa) v Yurina Koshino(Japan),
f.b
(4)Arina Rodionova(Russia) v Nicola Geuer(Germany),
Court 2
11am start
(7)Sung-Hee Han(Korea) v (WC)Dianne Hollands(New Zealand),
f.b
(2)Sacha Jones(Australia) v Makoto Ninomiya(Japan)
Court 4
11am start
(8)Ying-Ying Duan(China) v Miyu Kato(Japan),
f.b
(5)Sandra Zaniewska(Poland) v Angelique Svinos(Australia)
Court 6
11am start
(6)Yue-Yue Hu(China) v Keren Shlomo(Israel),
f.b
Risa Ozaki(Japan) v Mai Minokoshi(Japan)

Doubles semifinals to be confirmed