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LINZ, Austria : Flavia Pennetta kept herself in contention for a place in the WTA Championships to be held in Doha later this month when she defeated American Meghann Shaughnessy 6-1, 6-1 in the first round of the WTA event here on Tuesday.
Seven of the eight places for the season-ending spectacular have been filled, with Jelena Jankovic, Vera Zvonareva, Agnieszka Radwanska and Marion Bartoli all striving with Pennetta to claim the final spot.
"Well, it's there," said Pennetta. "We are four or five players, but I have to win this one and Moscow so it will be not easy.
"But I'm here to try and make it, of course."
A left knee injury has meant that Shaughnessy has barely competed over the past two seasons.
She claimed just one win in the six matches she played in 2008, and her only victory in nine matches this year came against an opponent ranked 638.
She began aggressively against top-seeded Pennetta, holding serve to love, but then failed to take advantage of four game points at 1-1 before the Italian broke with a crosscourt pass.
A double-fault then gave Pennetta a further break for 4-1, and she closed out the set when Shaughnessy netted a forehand to concede her serve for a third time.
Although she served well, firing six aces, Shaughnessy also committed too many errors to be a threat.
But Pennetta required patience before earning an advantage in the second set, failing to convert any of four break points at 1-0 but breaking for 3-1 on her sixth break point of the set when she raced in to a dropshop and forced Shaughnessy into an error at the net.
"I think the first round is always tough because you have to take time to adjust," said Pennetta.
"She was out for a while with injury, and you never know what can happen with this kind of player. She was really good and knows how to play, but I was really consistent today.
"I didn't make a lot of things incredible but was just playing my game. Maybe I will be next time more aggressive."
In August Pennetta became the first Italian woman ever to ranked in the world's top 10, and when she finally arrived home after the US Open she was amazed at the reception she received.
"Everything was really crazy there, maybe too much. It's not like I won a Grand Slam," she said.
"It was very exciting but I didn't expect so many people when I got to the airport. And when I got to my home town people stopped me all the time on the street. It's nice, but I didn't know how to react every time."
German qualifier Julia Goerges upset sixth seeded Sorana Cirstea 6-3 6-3, with the Romanian getting off to the worst possible start when she dropped her serve to love with a double-fault in the opening game.
But eighth seeded Italian Sara Errani won comfortably, beating Spain's Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-2 6-3.
Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany set up a second round clash with top seed Pennetta by beating Italy's Roberta Vinci 7-5 6-1, and there were also wins for Olga Govortsova of Belarus and Tatjana Malek of Germany.
- AFP /ls
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