 Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 29 Jan 2004 |  Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 16 Jan 2004 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 14 Aug 2003 |  Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 30 Dec 2003 |  Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 04 Feb 2004 |  Photographer: Aquiles Duarte
Date: 05 Jan 2004 |
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| 17 Mar 2004 - Neil Robinson | |
| 34th Banana Bowl Underway |
The 34th Banana Bowl finally got underway yesterday, following rain in Sao Paolo on Monday, and most of the leading players made smooth progress.
Top seed and defending champion Alisa Kleybanova, of Russia, finally found her rhythm and came back to defeat Bolivian Maria-Fernanda Alvarez 46 62 63, in a match lasting more than three hours, while there were straight sets victories for Marina Erakovic, seeded two, of New Zealand, and third-seeded Hungarian Agnes Szavay.
Kleybanova explained her poor performance, " I was very tired after playing Indian Wells. Today I only managed to perform at 10% of my usual level. I hope to play better in the next round."
The biggest surprise in the girls’ singles came with the defeat of fourth seed Agnes Szatmari, of Romania. She went out 64 63 to Poland’s Magdalena Kiszczynska, while Russia’s Regina Kulikova ousted Slovenian Ana Jerman, seeded six, 75 64.
Local hope and sixth seed Bruno Rosa was the only one of the top six seeds in the boys’ singles to struggle. The Brazilian, who reached the semifinals here last year, finally overcame Jan Marek, of the Czech Republic, 76(3) 57 64 to join top seed Eduardo Schwank, of Argentina, Slovak Lukas Lacko, seeded two, and third seed Rafael Arevalo, of El Salvador, in round two.
Seventh seeded American, Vahid Mirzadeh, was not so fortunate and fell to Rodrigo Starling 57 64 62, one of eight Brazilians to make the second round.
Today sees all the players in second-round action bidding for a place in the last 16.
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