Top seed Mauresmo beaten in Rome

Amelie Mauresmo's French Open preparations took a knock when she lost 7-5 6-7 7-6 to Samantha Stosur in round two of the Italian Open in Rome.

The top seed was playing her second tournament since appendix surgery and twice failed to take match points.

"I guess I didn't keep the intensity the way I should have," she said.

"I have nothing much to say but that I'm just disappointed, and obviously I guess the lack of matches showed a little bit at that moment."

Stosur had not even won a set in their previous five meetings but kept her head as Mauresmo missed match points in the ninth and 13th games of the deciding set.

Mauresmo saved a Stosur match point herself, before Stosur successfully challenged a call on a Mauresmo return, which turned out to be long.

That set up Stosur's second match point, which was converted when Mauresmo put a forehand return out.

"It went game-for-game until the third set, I had to keep fighting, try my best and see," said Stosur. "I pulled it out in the tiebreaker."

Second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and third seed Jelena Jankovic eased through, with straight-sets wins over Mara Santangelo and Tamira Paszek respectively.

Last year's runner-up Dinara Safina reached round three after a bizarre start to her game with Kaia Kanepi.

There were 10 breaks of serve in the first 11 games before Safina sealed a 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 win.

ROME (Reuters) - With Amelie Mauresmo struggling after a two-month layoff following surgery and many of the world's top women missing, the chances for an outsider to take next week's Italian Open claycourt title in Rome have rarely looked so good.

Mauresmo, who won in Rome in 2004 and 2005, returned to competition at the claycourt German Open in Berlin this week - her first tournament since undergoing an operation to remove her appendix in March.

The 27-year-old Frenchwoman was hoping for a good run to give her match practice ahead of Roland Garros at the end of the month.

Instead, she fell in the third round to 21-year-old Julia Vakulenko, who lies 50 places below her in the world rankings.

"It's extremely frustrating. In Rome I hope to get as much time as possible on the courts," said Mauresmo.

"I'm physically fit and am totally recovered from the appendectomy. I now need as many matches as possible before the French Open."

In the absence of world number one and French Open champion Justine Henin, who is sitting out the tournament as she prepares for Roland Garros, and world number two Maria Sharapova, who is out with a shoulder injury, Mauresmo will start as top seed.

The retirement of world number five Kim Clijsters and the late withdrawal of defending champion Martina Hingis with a back injury have reduced the field further.

Like the rest of the top eight seeds, Mauresmo has a bye into the second round but there she faces a potentially difficult match with the winner of the first-round contest between Australia's Samantha Stosur and home favourite Francesca Schiavone.

Svetlana Kuznetsova, the world number four, heads the challengers in the other half of the draw.

The Russian, who finished runner-up at Roland Garros last year, is coming into form on clay and beat compatriot Nadia Petrova 7-6 6-4 on Thursday to reach the semi-finals in Berlin.

Of the other leading players, third seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, a Berlin quarter-finalist, is in the shape to claim her third title of the year.

Jankovic has been one of the most consistent players on the women's circuit this season, winning the hardcourt event in Auckland at the start of the year then adding the claycourt title at Charleston in March

Mauresmo slumps to Berlin defeat

Second seed Amelie Mauresmo suffered a dramatic collapse as she went out of the German Open to Julia Vakulenko.

The pair resumed their held-over last-16 match with Mauresmo leading 6-2 1-1 but the Frenchwoman won just two games on the resumption.

Ukrainian Vakulenko followed up her 2-6 6-1 6-2 win with a 6-3 5-7 6-3 victory over eighth seed Dinara Safina.

Justine Henin trailed Jelena Jankovic 3-6 4-4 in their quarter-final when play was halted by bad light.

Earlier, world number one Henin had few problems beating Maria Elena Camerin 6-1 6-3 in the last 16.

The winner of the Henin-Jankovic match will meet Svetlana Kuznetsova, who defeated Nadia Petrova 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 in Friday's first quarter-final.

I was a step slow all day. What can you do, what can you say? Just keep practising Amelie Mauresmo

World number three Mauresmo was playing her first tournament after a two month lay-off to recover from an appendicitis operation.

She lost the first seven games on Friday's resumption and when she finally won a game to trail 2-1 in the final set, she shook her racquet and screamed in joy.

However, a double-fault two games later saw Mauresmo slip 4-1 down and the match was over soon after.

"What can you do, what can you say? Just keep practising," said Mauresmo. "I need the rhythm of more matches, competition. I was a step slow all day."

World number 53 Vakulenko had to go through the pain barrier in her second match of the day after hurting her foot.

"I am really pleased to have got to the semi-finals, but the game against Safina was hard, because the foot got really sore during the rain break and I had to take anti-inflammatories to dull the pain," she said.

"I am looking forward to the semi-final on Saturday, I just hope I can walk on the foot when I get up in the morning."

Mauresmo commits to Pilot Pen

The Pilot Pen received its second commitment from a top-ranked player today when defending Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo announced she would play in New Haven.

The 2006 Australian Open and Wimbledon women's singles champion became the first female player to commit to the 2007 Pilot Pen Tennis tournament on Tuesday. Mauresmo has played in New Haven seven times in the first nine years of the tournament. She has had a lot of success at the tournament reaching the quarterfinals five times (1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2006), the 2003 semifinal and the 2005 final.

In August the third-ranked Mauresmo will look to add a Pilot Pen title to her already impressive resume.

The good news for Mauresmo is that her Pilot Pen nemesis is unlikely to play in the Pilot Pen. Lindsay Davenport, the 2005 Pilot Pen singles champion, has beaten Mauresmo in New Haven five times since 1999. But Davenport is pregnant and is expecting to deliver her first child in June. Davenport didn't officially announce her retirement when news of the pregnancy broke late last year she said she has "no plans to play again."

Mauresmo has also been on the sidelines recently after undergoing an emergency appendectomy last month.

The 27-year-old Mauresmo hasn't played since losing to Justine Henin in the final at Dubai in late February. She has won 24 career singles titles and has won more that $13 million.

Mauresmo was originally planning to return to the tour later this month at the J&S Cup in Warsaw, Poland. But she is not on the official acceptance list. Mauresmo's official web site lists the May 5-13 German Open as the next tournament on Mauresmo's calendar so it is likely she will return at the Berlin, Germany event.

"We are delighted to have Amelie join the Pilot Pen field early," Pilot Pen Tennis tournament director Anne Worcester said in a statement. "As she is the defending Wimbledon champion, it is especially appropriate to announce her entry on the day that Wimbledon is announcing equal prize money levels for women for the first time in Wimbledon history."

The 2007 Pilot Pen will be held Aug. 17-25 at the Connecticut Tennis Center in New Haven.

Former Fairfield resident and ninth-ranked James Blake previously committed to play in the Pilot Pen men's tournament.

Mauresmo is coming off a career year in 2006 in which she held the world No. 1 ranking for a significant portion of the year; won her first career major at the Australian Open and followed that by winning at Wimbledon; and won two titles on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour at Paris and Antwerp.

This year, she continued her success at Antwerp, winning her third title there. She also reached the final of Dubai, before withdrawing from her next few tournaments due to acute appendicitis. She has since recovered and will return to the tour in the coming months.

For tickets, how to become a volunteer, or more information about the tournament, please call the Pilot Pen Tennis Box Office, 888-99-PILOT, 203-776-7331, or log on to www.pilotpentennis.com.

Mauresmo honoured with WTA award

Amelie Mauresmo was named the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour player of the year for 2006 in Miami on Friday.

The French favourite won her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open at the beginning of last season and then added the Wimbledon title in July.

Among other players to be given awards by the poll of tennis journalists were Martina Hingis and Jelena Jankovic.

Swiss star Hingis won comeback player of the year and Serbian Jankovic was voted most improved player.

Mauresmo, who is currently recovering from an appendectomy, also won in Paris and Antwerp and was ranked number one for 34 weeks in a row.

606: DEBATE I really admire Amelie for what she achieved last year, but this cannot seriously be true SB

Former world number one Hingis returned from a three-year lay-off to win twice in 2006 and climb to seventh in the rankings.

Jankovic lost 10 of her first 11 matches before rallying to end the year with a 44-17 record and a run to the US Open semi-finals.

American Lisa Raymond and Australian Samantha Stosur repeated as WTA doubles team of the year. They won 10 titles in 2006, including a French Open crown.