NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, 24 August 2005 — French duo Nathalie Dechy and Tatiana Golovin suffered surprise first round defeats at the New Haven Open on Monday, the final tournament before the US Open.
The losing finalist here last year, world No. 15 Dechy was ousted 7-6, 2-6, 6-4 by American Meghann Shaughnessy while Golovin missed out on a clash with top seed Lindsay Davenport after losing 6-3, 6-4 to Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic.
Peschke is number 41 in the world rankings, 17 places below Golovin.
Meanwhile, Vera Douchevina set up a second-round clash with fellow Russian and number four seed Elena Dementieva after a 6-4 6-4 win over Peng Shuai of China.
In the men’s event, American Scoville Jenkins picked up his first ATP Tour win with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over experienced Finn Jarkko Nieminen.
“I was pretty nervous in the first set but I just kept telling myself to take it slowly,” the 18-year-old Jenkins said.
Jenkins, who has a wild card into the US Open next week, said he was working hard to make it in the professional ranks.
“The biggest thing is that you have to be professional in everything you do,” he said.
“I have been speaking with James Blake and Andy Roddick, and they just told me to keep working and hang in there.” Italian Davide Sanguinetti, Igor Andreev of Russia, Victor Hanescu of Romania and Czech Tomas Zib all progressed to the second round.
On Tuesday, top seed Davenport will take on Peschke in the women’s event, while the highlight of the men’s tournament will be a clash between home favorite James Blake and Frenchman Michael Llodra.
