Shaky Shahar finally victorious again at Indian Wells

Pe’er claims just her second win of 2013, beating Marina Erakovic 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of prestigious tournament.

By ALLON SINAI
Shahar Pe'er 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Shahar Pe'er 370
(photo credit: 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