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Injured Seles bows out of Open Posted: Thursday January 16, 2003 5:05 AMUpdated: Thursday January 16, 2003 6:12 AM MELBOURNE (Reuters) -- A hobbling Monica Seles suffered her earliest exit at a grand slam tournament when she was knocked out 6-7 7-5 6-3 by Czech qualifier Klara Koukalova at the Australian Open on Thursday. The former world number one slumped out after spraining her ankle in the third game. The American bravely played on with her left foot heavily strapped but was powerless to stop Koukalova from the winning the match. "It was just bad luck, what can you do?" Seles said. "It was a struggle from the moment I sprained it. I knew I was in trouble and I tried to fight it but she was just too good." A winner of nine grand slam titles, including four Australian Opens, Seles has only failed to make it past the second round of a major tournament on one previous occasion, when she lost in the second round at Wimbledon in 1996. The 29-year-old had lost just three matches in seven previous appearances at the Australian Open dating back to 1991 with her worst result a quarter-final loss in 2001. She needed an injury break to have the ankle strapped but was unable to run or move freely once she returned to the court. Incredibly, the sixth seed still managed to grab the first set tiebreaker but struggled to stay in the match once Koukalova began hitting the ball from side to side to torment Seles. "I was in pain. I was just a step slower and I couldn't change directions," Seles said. "Even If I'd have got away with it today, I definitely wouldn't have got away with it the day after tomorrow. "It was just one of those things that happened, I tried to tough it out but I couldn't do it. Koukalova, ranked 113th in the world and playing in her
first grand slam event, plays American Meghann Shaughnessy in
the third round after the 28th seed beat Slovakian Ludmila
Cervanova 6-1 6-1.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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