MONDAY, 11.30AM:
SOUTH African tennis star Wayne Ferreira made a convincing start to his Australian Open campaign on Monday.
Despite a short second-set lapse, Ferreira beat Slovakian Jan Kroslak 6-4 3-6 6-2 6-3 to carry himself into the second round.
Said Ferreira: “I won. That’s about the best I can say about my performance today. I gave him the second set which was stupid, but other than that I played pretty well.”
Ferreira will face Swede Jonas Bjorkman in the second round. “Bjorkman has the kind of game which matches mine perfectly. I know he has improvd a lot over the last couple of months but I’m pretty confident I can beat him,” said Ferreira, who has never lost to the Swede.
Ferreira was the only South African on court on Monday. The rest, including women’s third seed Amanda Coetzer, are likely to be out in force on Tuesday.
SPORT BRIEFS
ZIM TROUNCE LESOTHO
ZIMBABWE’s Benjamin Nkonjera continued his goalscoring form on Sunday to help his side overcome a gallant Lesotho 2-0 in their Cosafa Castle Cup first-round tie in Maseru on Sunday. Nkonjera sunk his third goal in two matches for Zimbabwe in the 47th minute to put the visitors in the lead. Lesotho’s hopes of a win were destroyed in the 55th minute by an own-goal by defender Teele Ntsonyane.
GORE TAKES TRIATHLON
GAUTENG triathlete Glen Gore took an early lead and then held off one of the strongest fields ever assembled to retain his title at the 1998 Mr Price Triathlon at Durban’s Bay of Plenty on Sunday. Kim Carter won the women’s race, while Richard Woolrich was the first junior man home and Tracy Weare the first junior woman. Ken Curr was the top veteran, while Helen Lucre won the veteran women’s race.
BIG PHIL DOWNS INTER
BAFANA Bafana striker Philemon Masinga helped his Italian club side Bari to a shock 1-0 defeat of league leaders Inter Milan on Sunday with a 77th-minute stunner. Inter keeper Gianluca Pagliuca stopped a Masinga header, but couldn’t keep his hands on the ball, allowing the South African to follow through on the second attampt.
DE SWARDT OUT
SOUTH African tennis player Mariaan de Swardt failed to make the first round of the Australian Open when she lost 1-6 6-4 5-7 to Ukrainian Elena Tartarkova in the third round of qualifying on Sunday.
COX FOURTH IN PARIS-DAKAR
SOUTH African motorcyclist Alfie Cox finished fourth overall in the Paris-Dakar rally on Sunday. Cox came in two-and-a-half hours behind the winner, Stephane Peterhansel of France, who broke Cyril Neveu’s longstanding record. Second was Italian Fabrizio Meoni, followed by Australian Andy Haydon.