Shaky Shahar finally victorious again at Indian Wells
03/08/2013 03:37
Pe’er claims just her second win of 2013, beating Marina Erakovic 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of prestigious tournament.
Shahar Pe'er Photo: REUTERS
Shahar Pe’er claimed just her second win of 2013 on Wednesday night, beating
Marina Erakovic 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the prestigious Indian Wells
tournament in California.
In six previous tournaments this year, Pe’er
had claimed just a single victory, being knocked out in the opening round five
times. The 25-year-old Israeli continued to plummet in the world rankings earlier
this week, dropping to No.
128 after last week’s humbling straight-set
loss to Tereza Mrdeza (166) in the first round of the Brasil Cup in
Florianopolis.
Five of Pe’er’s six losses in 2013 have come against
players ranked 100 or lower and she had won just two sets all year long before
Wednesday, claiming both in the victory over Alexandra Panova in the first round
of the Australian Open.
However, Pe’er was dominant on her serve against
New Zealand’s Erakovic, winning 24 of 28 points on her first serve and facing
just two break points throughout the one hour and 17 minute
encounter.
The Israeli, who received a wild-card to the main draw, will
face a sterner test in the second round against Klara Zakopalova (22) of the
Czech Republic.
Meanwhile, tennis will introduce biological passports for
players and increase the number of blood tests done each year, the sport’s
anti-doping agency said on Thursday.
A number of players, including
17-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer, had called for the sport to up its
antidoping measures in the wake of high-profile cases in other sports.
A
biological passport is an electronic document containing test results collated
over time that can be used to detect changes that might indicate
doping.
“The implementation of the athlete biological passport is an
important step in the evolution of the Tennis Anti-Doping Program as it provides
us with a great tool in the fight against doping in our sport,” said
International Tennis Federation President Francesco Ricci Bitti in a
statement.
According to figures on the ITF website (www.itftennis.com),
the governing body carried out only 21 out-of-competition blood tests in the
professional game in 2011.
Cycling’s governing body, the UCI, carried out
more than 3,314 out-of-competition blood tests in the same year.
The UCI
introduced biological passports in 2008 to track any blood changes in riders
against an original profile.
Reuters contributed to this report