Top names cruise through openers at national championships

Pe’er cruised 6-0, 6-0 past Merry Melkin and will face Esther Masuri in the quarterfinals; Dudi Sela defeats Gala Hakak 6-2, 6-0.

By ALLON SINAI
peer and sela_311 (photo credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
peer and sela_311
(photo credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Shahar Pe’er and Dudi Sela began their participation in the Israeli championships on Tuesday, easily advancing to the quarterfinals in Ra’anana.
Pe’er cruised 6-0, 6-0 past Merry Melkin and will face Esther Masuri in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
“This is the first time I have played Melkin and I did what I had to do to finish the match quickly,” said Pe’er, who has won four straight national championships.
Sela, who only arrived in Israel early Tuesday morning, defeated Gal Hakak 6-2, 6-0 and will play Tal Aros in the last eight on Wednesday.
“It feels good to be back in Israel and I’m in pretty good shape,” Sela said.
The remaining quarterfinals will also be played on Wednesday, with men’s number 2 seed Amir Weintraub facing Gilad Ben Tzvi and women’s No. 2 Julia Glushko to come up against Liat Zimmerman.
One player who will not be in action is Harel Levy, who withdrew with injury on Tuesday.
“I couldn’t prepare myself properly for the tournament because of injuries so I decided to pull out,” said the 32-year-old five-time former champion, who is set to retire from tennis at the start of 2011.