Navratilova loses after 22 years

Martina Navratilova lost her first doubles match in Australia in 22 years when she and Alexandra Stevenson were beaten 6-3, 6-2 by Evie Dominikovic and Miriam Oremans in the Sydney International yesterday.

Navratilova's last doubles defeat in Australia was in the 1981 Australian Open final. She then won every women's doubles title there until her last appearance in 1989.

She retired from tennis in 1994 but made a comeback in 2000, playing doubles only, and returned to Australia for the first time this year.

The nine-times Wimbledon singles champion, now 46, teamed up with Svetlana Kuznetsova to win last week's Australian hardcourt title, making her the oldest player to win a tournament, singles or doubles, on tour.

Navratilova will link up again with the 17-year-old Russian in next week's Australian Open after the 10-hour drive to Melbourne. She had planned to fly but airline officials told her she could not carry her new pet dog on board.

Jennifer Capriati's preparations for the defence of her singles title in Melbourne were upset when she was beaten by another Russian, Tatiana Panova, in the second round. Having had a bye in the first round, the American has thus run out of competitive practice when hoping for a week of it.

Capriati, ranked No3 in the world, blew a one-set lead and went down 4-6, 6-4, 7-5. "I've just got to forget about it and think about next week," she said. "It is my first match back so it's to be expected that I'm not going to play the greatest."

In a swirling wind it was a scrappy match with 15 breaks of serve and 124 unforced errors, but Capriati said she was confident she would get her game back in time for the Australian Open.

"I feel I'm striking the ball well. I've just got to be more consistent and get the rust out a little bit," she said. "It doesn't really set me back. I got a good match in and I just have more time to practise now. For me it starts in the grand slam. I think I raise my game automatically."

She may have a point. She lost her first match in Sydney last year before winning her second Australian Open title in an epic final with Martina Hingis.