Third-seeded Japanese ace Ai Sugiyama battered Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia into submission Wednesday to advance to the third round of the AIG Japan Open tennis championships at Tokyo's Ariake Tennis Forest Park.
Sugiyama took an early lead on a sunny day at center court but dropped a set before ousting Srebotnik 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in a hard fought match while unseeded compatriot Takao Suzuki continued to awe local fans with another upset in the men's singles.
Sugiyama, a two-time Japan Open champion, broke the aggressive Slovenian's serve five times, pinpointing precision baseline shots to serve out to love in final game of the match.
In the men's singles event, 418th-ranked Suzuki downed No. 98 Armenian Sargis Sargsian 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 one day after ousting 12th-seed Andrew Ilie of Australia. He hammered out 21 aces in the match.
Meanwhile, top-seed Lleyton Hewitt of Australia roughed up Germany's Marc-Kevin Goellner 6-2, 6-2 as the newly crowned U.S. Open champion advanced to the third round in what he termed a good warm-up match.
"It was good to get out there and work out some of the cobwebs and improve my concentration after finishing the U.S. Open and playing in the Davis Cup. It's been draining on me physically and mentally, and it was a little weird out there today," Hewitt said.
Second-seed Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands was the victor in a meeting with Christian Vinck, beating the German 6-3, 6-4 while fourth-seed Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden disposed of Japan's Hiroki Kondo 6-1, 6-3.
Meanwhile, American Monica Seles, seeded No. 1, dispensed with Cho Yoon Jeong of South Korea in straight sets 6-2, 6-3, but admitted to losing her concentration against the qualifier.