Seeds tumble in Charleston

Clay court specialist Anabel Medina Garrigues battled past qualifier Melanie Oudin 6-4 4-6 6-0 in the first round of the WTA Family Circle Cup in Charleston.

The Spanish 10th seed will face Anastasia Rodionova next, after the Australian beat qualifier Melanie Czink 6-2 2-6 6-1.

Medina Garrigues has won 10 WTA titles on clay - more than any other active player - but had to grind it out over the first two sets before coming through in two hours and 29 minutes.

Unseeded Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak outlasted American 11th seed Christina McHale 7-5 5-7 6-4 in a two-hour, 48-minute marathon.

Wozniak, a former world number 21, had three aces and won 70 per cent of her first-serve points.

In other matches on Monday, Argentinian Paula Ormaechea surprised 15th seed Chanelle Scheepers 6-1 1-6 6-4 while 16th seed Jarmila Gajdosova lost to Swiss qualifier Stefanie Voegele 6-4 2-6 6-4.

Serena Williams begins her challenge on Tuesday against Elena Vesnina of Russia, who beat Canada's Stephanie Dubois 7-6 (12/10) 7-5.

Tiger Woods: the journey back is only just beginning

Tiger Woods is the bookies' favourite for the Masters. But judging from his recent dealings with journalists he still has some way to go on the comeback trail

Tiger Woods is back, according to the snappy but inadequate shorthand of those whose job it is to interpret narrow sporting narratives for a wider audience. As is usually the case when it comes to the man who was at once the most celebrated and the most unknown athlete in the world, the truth is more complex.


Certainly, Woods is back among the best half-a-dozen or so of the world's best golfers. He is back in the winner's circle after beating the field at the PGA Tour's Bay Hill Invitational last month, his first official victory anywhere in the world for almost two and a half years. And this week he is back at Augusta National Golf Club to compete in the Masters, for which he is the bookies' favourite. But for the Tiger Woods of old, the sporting demi-god and global corporate icon, the journey back is only just beginning.