Japanese veteran Kimiko Date Krumm rallied to beat defending champion Maria Sharapova 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 Monday in the first round of the Pan Pacific Open. Date Krumm, who is one day short of her 40th birthday, broke the 23-year-old Russian to go up 5-3 in the third set and won the final game when Sharapova's backhand went wide. “To play against a former World No. 1 and defending champion, I knew I had to play to the best of my ability,” said Date Krumm, who returned to competitive tennis in 2008 after a 12-year layoff. Sharapova, who is the tournament's 12th seeded player, had 11 double faults in the match that lasted 2 hours and 9 minutes at Ariake Colosseum. Sharapova broke Date to go up 3-2 in the final set and was leading 40-love in the sixth game when she double faulted twice before being broken by Date Krumm. “Momentum is so big in tennis,” Sharapova said. “If you give your opponent a chance they can get confident and take the momentum away.” It was the first meeting between the two players. Sharapova said she was impressed with Date Krumm's ability and fitness after such a long layoff. In the second round, Date will play Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, the 6-3, 6-3 winner over Angelique Kerber of Germany Sunday. In second-round matches, third-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia defeated Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-4, 6-1, and sixth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland coasted to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Olga Govortsova of Belarus. In other first round action, Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan defeated Japan's Kurumi Nara 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, while Sara Errani of Italy outclassed Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2. The 15th seed Nadia Petrova of Russia crashed to a 7-5, 6-4 defeat to Roberta Vinci of Italy. Muster back in ATP rankings Former French Open champion and top-ranked Thomas Muster is back in the ATP rankings for the first time in more than 10 years. The 42-year-old Austrian, who returned to professional tennis in June, is ranked 988th with 7 points in the singles rankings released Monday. Muster, who won just one match in five events on the second-tier Challenger circuit this season, has been offered a wildcard by organizers of the Bank Austria Tennis Trophy in Vienna on Oct. 23-31. Muster said he is considering whether to accept the invitation. If so, he would play his first match on the ATP Tour since June 1999. Stakovsky wins in Malaysia Sergiy Stakhovsky of the Ukraine Monday became the first of the seeds to reach the second round of the Malaysian Open, beating the American Michael Russell 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3. The 31st-ranked Stakhovsky, seeded seventh, won his 25th match of the season, sealing a second match point with his 12th ace and converting to take the victory after two and three-quarter hours of battle. Two Colombian Davis Cup players split a pair of opening-day matches, with Santiago Giraldo defeating Poland Michal Przysiezny 7-6 (10-8), 6-1 while South African Kevin Anderson eliminated Alejandro Falla 6-1, 3-6, 7-5. Eighth seed Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan went through over Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun 7-5, 6-2 three months after Lu shocked Andy Roddick at Wimbledon. Indian Yuki Bhambri made short work of Si Yew Ming 6-2, 6-0, after the Malaysian had been given a wild card following the injured Australian Lleyton Hewitt's withdrawal. De Bakker, Troicki win In Thailand, seeded players Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands and Viktor Troicki of Serbia had straight-set wins in the first round of the Thailand Open Monday. The sixth-seeded De Bakker shook off a shaky start to beat Marc Lopez of Spain 7-5, 6-0, winning 11 straight games to close it out. Troicki, seeded seventh and the 2009 finalist, defeated Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland 6-3, 6-1. The 22-year-old Dutchman will meet Daniel Brands of Germany, who downed Illya Marchenko of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4. In Monday's other first-round match, Florent Serra of France rallied to beat Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-4. Juan Martin del Potro, meanwhile, is taking full advantage of training time as he prepares for his return to tennis in Thailand after almost nine months off with a wrist injury. The surprise 2009 US Open winner, his one-time top 10 ranking now down to a modest 36th, is making his first tournament start since requiring surgery on his injury in May. Del Potro will start by playing Belgium's Olivier Rochus in the pair's first meeting.
