Mauresmo, No. 1 on the WTA Tour for a total of 39 weeks but out of the top 20 last season for the first time in 10 years, got her first tournament victory in two years by beating No. 3 Jelena Jankovic and No. 4 Elena Dementieva at the Paris Indoors. Her match against Groenefeld, of Germany, was her first since then.
The Frenchwoman, the No. 17 seed here, said the Paris win had an “unbelievable” effect on her confidence, even though it wasn’t reflected in Friday’s match, because “I was doubting my play, mostly physically, because I was really feeling either injured or not being able to really move the way I wanted.”
In 2007 Mauresmo missed four months of the season due to an emergency appendectomy and a right abductor strain and last year she was bothered by injuries to both thighs and her right rib cage.
Asked why she kept pushing herself at this stage of her career, she laughed and said “I probably didn’t find the answer to this question. I found the answer to the other question, which was do I want to stop, which was no. It was already quite a challenge when it happened in the summer of 2007, where I really asked myself whether I want to keep going or not. I didn’t find the answer quickly. It took me a few months to really feel that for some reason, I don’t have enough.”
The seeded players in the women’s field began play after first-round byes. No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark advanced with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland, and Shahar Peer of Israel defeated No. 10 Marion Bartoli of France, 1-6, 6-4, 7-5.
In men’s first round play, American Sam Querry was a 7-6 (2), 6-2 winner over Guillermo Canas of Argentina and Tommy Haas of Germany beat Oscar Hernandez of Spain, 6-3, 6-3.
Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, the No. 5 seed, withdrew due to a left heel injury.
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