Date-Krumm falls at first hurdle

Japanese wild card Kimiko Date-Krumm was overcome by No. 9 seed Marion Bartoli in straight sets, failing to advance out of the first round at the Pan Pacific Open on Monday.

Date-Krumm, who turns 42 on Thursday and is currently ranked 107th in the world, had the home crowd behind her on a sunny day at Ariake Tennis Forest Park but could not find a way to break down her world No. 10 opponent in a 6-1, 6-4 defeat.

"She has a lot of speed and plays the ball flat. That suits my game because I can also play the ball flat, but I can't put spins on my balls like say (Samantha) Stosur. I wish I had a ball like that, but I can't suddenly change my game at this late stage in my career," Date-Krumm said. "Bartoli has a very high pace to keep up with."

The former world No. 4, who won this tournament back in 1995, broke Bartoli at 3-3 in the second set, but the Frenchwoman broke right back. Date-Krumm had a chance to break her opponent again when she took a 40-30 lead in the 10th game but netted twice as Bartoli served out the match in one hour, 44 minutes.

"Bartoli has a double first serve, whereas I need work even on my first serve. I lost the first set 6-1, but I had a lot of deuces. The problems were with my serves," said Date-Krumm.

Date-Krumm could have also done without a reportedly drunk fan in the crowd, who she said ruined her focus by yelling out on critical points in the match.

"I heard after the match, it was a drunk. That was a distraction on big points. He might have been rooting for me, but . . ."

Bartoli improved to 4-0 against Date-Krumm for her career.

"I expected for her to fight hard until the end, and that's what she did. So I had to stay focused throughout," said Bartoli of Date-Krumm. "I would love to play at that level when I am 42. I'm 27, and I don't think I could at her age. That's amazing."

Going forward, Date-Krumm will be heading to Beijing for the China Open next week where she will have to qualify and will appear as a wild card at the Japan Women's Open in Osaka from Oct. 8-14.

"I've done what I must do, so I'm not really down about this loss. I came back four years ago, but what do people expect of me? I am still trying to figure out what to do to win," she said.

Qualifier Kurumi Nara, meanwhile, was also ousted in the first round by Urszula Radwanska of Poland 6-2, 6-4 in her second appearance in the main draw at the Tokyo meet.

The 20-year-old Nara, who had won their only other meeting in a qualifier in Cincinnati in 2010, easily dropped the first set. She bounced back to break Radwanska at 2-0 and 4-4 in the second, but the Pole pulled away to win.

"Today I wasn't able to move as well as I did in my two matches in qualification," Nara said. "Her shots were low, but I couldn't get length on my shots. Even so, being able to win two qualifying matches was a real confidence boost going forward."

In other matches, former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic, the 11th seed, beat Andrea Hlavackova, 6-3, 2-0, when her Czech opponent retired in the second set due to a left thigh injury, while 17th-seed Russian Nadia Petrova rolled past China's Peng Shuai 6-1, 6-4.

Later in the evening, former world No. 1 and 10th seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, who just won the Korea Open in Seoul on Sunday, beat Serbian Bojana Jovanovski 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 in a match stalled by rain.

Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic, the 16th seed, downed Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4, 7-6 (3). Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, runnerup in Seoul and the 15th seed, beat Spanish qualifier Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-1, 6-4.

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