It was a bittersweet day for Japanese tennis fans on Tuesday. On the one hand, Ai Sugiyama won her first-round match at the Toray Pan Pacific tournament. On the other, Haruka Inoue was on the losing end.
After 62 minutes of unspectacular tennis at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Sugiyama emerged with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Inoue. It shouldn't have taken that long. Sugiyama is clearly the better player. She's stronger and has far more experience than Inoue. But it didn't look that way in the early going.
Despite a lightweight serve and predictable baseline play, Inoue raced to a 2-0 lead in the first set. Sugiyama, meanwhile, was dogged by unforced errors and poor timing on the fast carpet.