Morariu Still Encouraged

Corina Morariu’s comeback continued Sunday with her first singles match in over a year.

The 24-year-old was encouraged despite dropping a 4-1 lead in the third set as Marie-Gaianeh Mikaelian of Switzerland rallied to win, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, in the first round of the JPMorgan Chase Open tennis tournament Sunday at Manhattan Country Club in Manhattan Beach.

Before returning to the tour two weeks ago, Morariu had spent 15 months laid up either in a hospital or at home in Boca Raton, Fla., being treated for acute promyelocytic leukemia.

“I thought I played well after 15 months of not playing,” she said. “Unfortunately, I just couldn’t close it out.”

The cancer now in remission, Morariu and partner Kimberly Po-Messerli played doubles last week in the Acura Classic at Carlsbad, losing their first-round match in three sets to Chanda Rubin and Meghann Shaughnessy. Sunday’s match lasted 2 hours 25 minutes. “I definitely had her. I’m disappointed, but obviously I’m not devastated. I’ve had worse things happen in my life, so I have that perspective. It’s just a matter of playing matches,” said Morariu, who also will play doubles at Manhattan Beach.

Mikaelian won six of the last seven games after being down a break, at 4-1, in the third set. She won her first WTA tournament title in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, last month, and rallied against Morariu after taking a medical timeout between the first and second sets, when she called on a trainer to massage a strained lower back.

In other matches, Amy Frazier, Meilen Tu and Marissa Irvin also prevailed. Frazier defeated Barbara Schett of Austria, 6-4, 6-4. Tu, a Granada Hills High graduate, topped Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus, 6-2, 7-6 (2). Irvin, a Santa Monica resident and Studio City Harvard-Westlake High graduate, routed qualifier Greta Arn of Germany, 6-0, 6-3.

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Featured Matches

Center Court, 10 a.m.

Paola Suarez vs. Katarina Srebotnik; Amanda Coetzer vs. Jelena Jankovic; Magdalena Maleeva vs. Rita Grande.

Grand Stand, 10 a.m.

Shuai Peng vs. Tina Pisnik; Iroda Tulyaganova vs. Adriana Serra Zanetti; Nicole Pratt vs. Eleni Daniilidou; Tatiana Panova vs. Meilen Tu.

Center Court, 7 p.m.

Chanda Rubin vs. Marissa Irvin; Elena Likhovtseva vs. Alexandra Stevenson.

Lauren Peterson