Mauresmo, Hingis, Serena Win U.S. Openers

Flushing Meadows, NY (Sports Network) - World No. 1 star Amelie Mauresmo and former top-ranked players Martina Hingis and Serena Williams posted first- round wins Wednesday at the 2006 U.S. Open. The reigning Wimbledon, Australian Open and WTA Championships titlist Mauresmo needed two days to get past qualifier Kristina Barrois 6-1, 7-5. The match was suspended because of rain here on Tuesday, with Barrois leading 5-2 in the second set, but the top-seeded French star returned to the court to win five straight games, and the match, on Day 3 of this fortnight. Mauresmo wound up with half as many unforced errors as her German counterpart Barrois (36-18). The high-flying Mauresmo beat Belgian stalwart Justine Henin-Hardenne in this year`s Wimbledon and Aussie Open finales. The athletic Frenchwoman will encounter American Meghann Shaughnessy in the second round. Shaughnessy stopped Italian Roberta Vinci 6-3, 6-4 to capture her fifth straight match victory, as she`s fresh off her title at Forest Hills. An eighth-seeded Hingis snuck past Chinese Shuai Peng 4-6, 6-1, 6-3. The five- time Grand Slam champion Hingis titled here in 1997 and was the back-to-back runner-up in 1998 and 1999. Hingis, who returned to the WTA Tour back in January, is appearing in her first U.S. Open since 2002. An unseeded Williams trounced Spaniard Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-1, 6-2 in 55 minutes. The seven-time Grand Slam titlist Serena captured the U.S. Open in 1999 and 2002 and was the runner-up to her big sister Venus in 2001. Former French Open champion Anastasia Myskina was ousted from the draw, as she gave way to Belarusian Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 6-2. The 11th-seeded Myskina ran the table at Roland Garros in 2004. Twelfth-seeded Russian Dinara Safina avoided an upset by drilling the Ukraine`s Yulia Beygelzimer 6-1, 6-3. Hot Serbian Ana Ivanovic needed all three sets to get past Russian Vera Dushevina 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. The US Open Series-winning Ivanovic, seeded 16th here, has won her last six matches, including a surprise title in Montreal two weeks ago, when she upended Martina Hingis in the final at the Tier I Rogers Cup. Other seeded winners were No. 23 Russian Anna Chakvetadze and No. 24 Chinese Na Li. A mild upset came when Austrian Sybille Bammer bounced 31st-seeded Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy 5-7, 6-3, 6-1. (Copyright 2005 by The Sports Network)