Dubai, UAE  - Ana Ivanovic got off to a winning start under new coach Craig Kardon, reaching the second round in a stroll at the Barclays Championships on Monday.

The French Open winner only teamed with the American a week or so ago in hopes of stopping her slide after winning Roland Garros but failing to back up that big win.

The Serb defeated Russian Alisa Kleybanova 7-5, 6-4 to take revenge for a third-round upset loss in the Australian Open, the last time Ivanovic played a WTA match.

Manacor, Spain  - The injury that hampered world number one Rafael Nadal in the final in Rotterdam "seems nothing serious," says his uncle and coach Toni Nadal.

"In principle it seems nothing serious," he told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa Monday.

Nadal - the recent champion at the Australian Open - lost the final Sunday to Andy Murray 6-4, 4-6, 6-0, and evidenced problems in his right knee.

Rotterdam, Netherlands  - Andy Murray won his second title of the season as he beat Rafael Nadal in back-to-back matches, taking a 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 victory on Sunday at the ABN-AMRO World Tennis.

The Scot managed to recover his forces after dropping a second serve riddled with seven breaks of serve as he defeated the top seeded Spaniard five months after a semi-final victory in their series at the US Open.

Nadal took treatment on his right thigh after the third game of the second set and was feeling the problem as Murray swept the third for victory.

Pattaya, Feb. 15 : Indian tennis star Sania Mirza fine run at the Pattaya Open ended on Sunday after she was defeated by the Russian top seed Vera Zvonareva in straight sets 5-7, 1-6.

The match, which lasted an hour and seventeen minutes, saw Mirza putting -up a brave fight before losing to world number five Zvonareva.

The first set was fiercely fought between both players, but Mirza's several unforced errors ruined her efforts.

Dubai, UAE  - Israeli Shahar Peer lost her chance to make a political point as the Dubai government denied her a visa to play in the Barclays Championships starting on Sunday.

The 21-year-old ranked 48th, was to have travelled to the Gulf after a semi-final at the weekend in Pattaya, Thailand, and had been drawn to face 15th-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze.

But tensions in the Middle East after Israeli's bombing campaign last month of Palestinians in the region ended any hope of a former Israeli soldier being admitted to the moderate Arab emirate.

Rotterdam, Netherlands - Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray will each bid for a first trophy at the ABN-AMRO World Tennis on Sunday after overcoming hampered opponents in semi-final sweeps.

Nadal took advantage with Gael Monfils suffering a stomach complaint, winning the semi-final 6-4, 6-4 but still requiring more than 90 minutes to go through.

Murray dominated Mario Ancic in just over an hour, picking apart the Croatian's game 6-1, 6-2.

Nadal lost his first service game against Monfils but was able to impose on the half-strength Frenchman, who struck ten aces.