Smashnova advances in Paris

She won easily but will face a much tougher test in next round against world number seven Nadia Petrova.

By ALLON SINAI
smashnova 88 (photo credit: )
smashnova 88
(photo credit: )
Israeli number one Anna Smashnova advanced to the second round of the Open Gaz de France in Paris Tuesday evening defeating Frenchwoman S verine Br mond 6-1 6-2. Smashnova dominated the match and won easily but will face a much tougher test in the next round against world number seven Nadia Petrova. Earlier in the day, Shahar Pe'er and Australian Nicole Pratt progressed to the second round of the Doubles at the Pattaya Open in Thailand beating Rika Fujiwara and Silvija Talaja 6-3 3-6 6-1. Pe'er and Pratt began the match well and won the first set, but lost their serve early in the second set and allowed their opponents to even up the match. Unlike the first two sets, the third was a laugher and Pe'er and Pratt eventually progressed with ease to the second round. Earlier in the week, Pe'er also advanced in the singles tournament, and on Wednesday she will play Maria Sanchez Lorenzo of Spain for a place in the next round. Israel's Davis Cup team continued to prepare for this weekend's tie against Serbia-Montenegro in Group 1 of the Europe/Africa Zone on Tuesday. The team held a training session and then attended the traditional Davis Cup dinner with the Serbian team. Israeli number one Dudi Sela will be playing his first match for the national team and is hoping that the crowd will turnout in large numbers. "I enjoy playing in front of a big crowd and I play well in such situations. "When I played Roger Federer at the Roland Garros there was a large crowd. I was tense at the start of the match, but as the match progressed I began to loosen up and played much better," Sela said. The visitors traveled to Israel without their most experienced player, doubles star Nenad Zimonjic. But Andy Ram - who was set to meet Zimonjic in the doubles match - said he wasn't sure the player's absence was necessarily a good thing. "We will have a harder time preparing for the match. Yoni [Erlich] and I know his game very well and we've beaten him in the past so we would have preferred to have played him." But we're training well and we're in good shape so we can handle any pair we come up against."