Mauresmo breezes through

Amelie Mauresmo If there is such a thing as a routine victory then it belonged to Amelie Mauresmo today as she overcame Slovakian lucky loser Kristina Kucova in the simplest of second round victories. Playing on Court 3 – the old No.2 Court, known as the “graveyard of champions” – the 2006 winner faced little difficulties as she won 6-3, 6-3 in 61 minutes. The first set was deeply uneventful. Mauresmo, as has long been her habit, took a while to get into her stride and her first serve was nowhere to be found. She delivered two double faults in the first game and then compounded the mistakes with another unforced error to give her opponent break point. Presumably 19-year-old Kucova, ranked 149 in the world, was so startled she was unable to take advantage. After all, this is not only her Grand Slam debut but before this week she had not previously made the main singles draw in a Tour event all year (although she has mustered one title on the ITF circuit). Kucova then followed Mauresmo’s example with two double faults of her own, but in her case it simply opened the door for the Frenchwoman to break to love, and from there it was a straightforward stroll through the set. Of course this was a match Mauresmo – who turns 30 the day after the ladies’ final next week – could only have expected to win. Playing in her 45th career Grand Slam, she brought nothing if not experience to the encounter. In the first game of the second set she had the Slovakian running all over the court and broke her again. At 1-3, too many loose shots from Kucova handed over the double break. Mauresmo let a match point go by and managed to give back a break before eventually wrapping up the match at the third time of asking. Court 3 - Ladies' Singles - 2nd Round Amelie Mauresmo FRA (17) 6 6 Kristina Kucova SVK 3 3