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Unseeded Dechy upsets Srebotnik in Cincinnati

Unseeded Nathalie Dechy rolled through a third-set tiebreaker to pull out a 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (1) upset of fourth-seeded Katarina Srebotnik and reach the Cincinnati Women’s Open quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Dechy won the first five points of the tiebreaker before connecting on a forehand volley at match point to clinch her third win in five career matches against Srebotnik.

Third-seeded Maria Kirilenko avoided an upset with a 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 win over Canadian qualifier Stephanie Dubois 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 in their second-round match.

Second-seeded Nadia Petrova, the highest seed remaining after No. 1 Marion Bartoli retired on Tuesday with abdominal pain, also advanced by easily beating Julie Ditty of the US 6-1, 6-1.

Kirilenko came from behind twice, after losing the first set and seeing her serve broken at the beginning of the third.

“I knew it was going to be a tough match,” said Kirilenko, who lost a third-set tiebreaker to the Canadian at Montreal last week.

Dubois broke the Russian in the first game of the third set and then hit the baseline with a lob to hold serve for 2-0. Kirilenko pulled even with a service break in the sixth game, and both players held serve until the last game when Dubois sent a backhand long on Kirilenko’s third match point.

“I made a lot of mistakes in the first set,” Kirilenko said. “When the second set began, I decided I had to change up. I started hitting a lot of heavy balls and lobs, and I saw she didn’t know what to do with those. Sometimes you have to win ugly.”

Kirilenko will play Sabine Lisicki of Germany, who beat Camille Pin of France 6-3, 6-4. Lisicki used a 7-0 advantage in aces to help overcome nine double faults.

Petrova, a Wimbledon quarter-finalist, won 11 consecutive games after Ditty held serve to open the match. Ditty double-faulted on chances to hold serve in the third and fifth games, allowing the Russian to take control. After that, Petrova’s main challenge was staying focused in the second-shortest match of the tournament — just over 57 minutes.

Petrova will play US wild card Lilia Osterloh, who reached the quarter-finals of the Western and Southern Financial Group Women’s Open for the second consecutive year, this time with an easy 6-4, 6-1 upset of Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic.



■LEGG MASON CLASSIC

AP, WASHINGTON

Second-seeded Juan Martin del Potro won his 16th consecutive match in beating Dudi Sela 6-0, 5-7, 6-2 on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals of the Legg Mason Classic.

Fourth-seeded Tommy Haas also advanced, beating Nicholas Mahut of France 7-6 (4), 6-3.

Del Potro cruised through the opening set, struggled in the second, and broke Israeli Sela a sixth time for the match.

“In the end of the second set, when I was close to winning, the match got a little out of hand,” del Potro said. “But even after losing the second set I didn’t panic.”

The 19-year-old Argentine, ranked a career-high No. 19 in the world, has not lost in six weeks. Del Potro has won all three tournaments he’s entered. He picked up his first career title in Stuttgart, Germany, and kept the streak going with wins in the Austrian Open and Los Angeles last weekend.

It’s the first time any ATP player has picked up his first three career titles in three straight tournaments.

Del Potro will meet last year’s runner-up, John Isner, in the quarter-finals. Isner defeated Donald Young 6-4, 7-6 (4) in an all-American affair.
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