Tax won a marathon match against Italian new hope
Roberta Vinci 6-3,4-6,7-5 on Tuesday in the $170,000
Qatar Open hardcourt tennis event. It's a good sign
that she has almost recoverd her usual form, isn't it
?? Now she'll face 18-year-old Eleni Daniilidou of
Greece who defeated Rita Grande 6-2,6-4. Daniilidou
turned a pro last year and she's a relation of Mark
Philippoussis.<br>In the doubles Iva Majoli of Croatia has withdrawn
from the tournament, so Tax & Rita have moved to
Majoli & Barbara Rittner's place. They'll play against
Bahia Mouhtassine & Selima Sfar today.<br><br>Earlier
on Monday, the players made an appearance on Centre
Court dressed in traditional Arab costumes, in what has
become a regular Doha feature. The players were seen
having a good time, even as some of them were tripping
over the flowing dresses. <br>The moderate crowd
reserved their biggest applause for the top three seeds,
Monica Seles of the United States, Sandrine Testud of
France and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain. <br>Testud,
a crowd favourite and the losing finalist last
year, showed her familiarity with the flowing Arab
dress with a confident walk to the centre of the court
for the opening ceremony. She even jogged the last
few yards while the other players were struggling to
keep the dress on.