Peng Shuai of China rallied to stun two-time Grand Slam-winner Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the second round of the ASB Classic yesterday.
Peng, ranked 71, dropped the first set in 30 minutes, before fighting back tenaciously to win the second and then recovered from 0-3 deficit in the third to take the match in 2 hours, 15 minutes.
Peng had played third-seeded Kuznetsova, a former US Open and French Open champion, on three previous occasions and lost each time.
PHOTO: AFP
Kuznetsova made a bold start to the deciding set, breaking Peng in the opening game, then serving an ace to start her first service game, but her errors intensified and she dropped serve at 3-1 and again as Peng leveled the set at 5-5.
Peng held serve, then broke again to take the match on her second match point.
Meanwhile, former top-ranked Maria Sharapova struggled on serve in windy conditions before beating Renata Voracova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5.
PHOTO: AFP
Three-time Grand Slam-winner Sharapova dropped serve early in the first set and came back from 3-1 down with service breaks in the fifth, seventh and ninth games to take the set in 38 minutes.
The second set began with a series of seven-straight service breaks as both players struggled in the wind and with a lack of confidence. Voracova finally held to lead 5-3, but Sharapova showed tenacity to level the game at 5-5 and take the match on her opponent’s next service game.
“With the wind, my ball toss was all over the place. That’s something I’ll have to work on in my next game,” Sharapova said. “I played a really tough opponent today. She was very different from my first opponent, very flat and deep, and it was difficult to find my rhythm.”
PHOTO: AFP
Sharapova described her performance “a bit sloppy.”
“It was certainly up and down,” she said. “I started a little bit slow and she had opportunities to go 4-1 first set. I was lucky, I just hung in there and started playing a little better, more solid.”
No. 2 seed and defending champion Yanina Wickmayer was stretched to three sets by Sabine Lasicki of Germany, winning 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, while No. 4 seed Julia Goerges of Germany beat Alize Cornet of France 6-2, 6-4.
No. 7 seed Elena Vesnina of Russia retired in the third set of her match against Simona Halep of Romania. Halep was leading 2-6, 6-4, 4-0 when Vesnina retired complaining of dizziness.
British qualifier Heather Watson beat No. 9 seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 and Greta Arn of Hungary ousted No. 8 seed Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.
BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL
AP, BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA
Defending champion Andy Roddick advanced to the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International yesterday, hitting 15 aces to beat Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-4, 6-1.
The second-seeded Roddick controlled the match with his powerful serve, landing 71 percent of his first serves and winning 87 percent of those points.
His barrage of aces helped victims of devastating flooding in Australia’s Queensland and New South Wales states after he pledged to donate US$100 for every ace he serves at the Brisbane tournament.
Sam Stosur of Australia, the top-seeded women’s player, made the same pledge, but was eliminated in the second round.
“A lot of the credit should go to Sam Stosur,” Roddick said. “It was her initiative. She came up with the idea and I was happy to follow her lead.”
Roddick dropped his serve early in the first set at Pat Rafter Arena, but gradually started to dominate the hard-hitting Dolgopolov.
“I knew that he was aggressive to the point of psychosis,” Roddick said.
Roddick will next face fifth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis in the quarter-finals. The Cypriot beat Lukasz Kubot of Poland 6-2, 6-2.
Last year’s runner-up, Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, beat fourth-seeded Mardy Fish of the US 6-2, 6-1.
In the women’s tournament, crowd favorite Jelena Dokic of Australia dropped 10 straight games in a 6-0, 6-1 loss to Andrea Petkovic of Germany, a setback ahead of the Australian Open.
Dokic said she has a stomach virus and had “nothing to give” in the match.
“I wasn’t in the match at all,” Dokic said. “I’ve been sick for a couple of days and I think it’s taken its toll.”
Also yesterday, fourth-seeded Marion Bartoli of France beat Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 3-6, 6-0.
HOPMAN CUP
AP, PERTH, AUSTRALIA
Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US stunned world No. 7 Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 6-4 in the US’ 2-1 win over Italy at the Hopman Cup yesterday.
John Isner gave the US a 2-0 lead after coming through a close encounter against Potito Starace 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-4, but Italy denied the US a second clean sweep at the Hopman Cup, as Schiavone and Starace pulled off a surprising 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 10-3 victory in the mixed doubles.
The result means that all four nations in Group B — Italy, the US, Britain and France — still have a chance of qualifying for Saturday’s final.
Dressed head-to-toe in black, Mattek-Sands wasted little time in applying pressure to French Open champion Schiavone, breaking to go 3-2 ahead in the opening set and maintaining her lead the rest of the way.
Schiavone looked under par on another humid day in Perth, falling a break behind at the start of the second set. She broke back, but it was merely delaying the inevitable as Mattek-Sands broke again to complete the victory.
Starace was the first to break in the men’s match, beating the lanky Isner’s serve for the first time in the competition at 3-3 in the opening set, but the American broke straight back and the set went into a tiebreaker.
Starace refused to be put down, staying strong on serve and breaking Isner at the crucial juncture to win the second set.
As both men were drained by heat, Starace looked like causing an upset when he broke Isner’s serve again to lead 3-1, but the American broke back, and broke again to take the set and the match with his 23rd ace.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova, who was forced to withdraw from the Hopman Cup on Monday after injuring her knee against Ana Ivanovic, confirmed that she has torn her meniscus and will require surgery that will probably result in her missing the Australian Open.
WORLD TEAM CHALLENGE
AFP, HONG KONG
World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki crushed China’s top player, Li Na, in straight sets yesterday, taking the Europeans to a 2-0 lead over Asia at the World Team Challenge.
The 20-year-old Dane, who has yet to win a Grand Slam, threw down the gauntlet to her rivals ahead of the Australian Open with an ice-cool display that saw her dispatch the world No. 11 in the season-opening exhibition.
Wozniacki and Li held serve in a close-fought first seven games until the Danish sensation broke the deadlock to break in the eighth.
Li was unable to deal with Wozniacki’s blistering forehand and dropped another service game to concede the first set 6-4.
The Chinese No. 1 started the second set more consistently and appeared to have shaken off a tendency to commit unforced errors as she went 3-0 up, but Wozniacki demonstrated the kind of tenacity that saw her take her 12th WTA title in October, staging an impressive comeback to level at 3-3, before going on to win 6-3.
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