Third-seeded Andrea Petkovic fought off eight match points to reach the quarter-finals of the Diamond Games tournament with a 6-7 (9/7), 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 win over local favorite, Belgian Alison Van Uytvank on Wednesday.
In a marathon that lasted three hours and 20 minutes, the 103rd-ranked Van Uytvank came close to sealing a straight-sets win, but Petkovic saved all eight match points in the 12th game of the second set and proved the stronger in the tiebreak.
Van Uytvank struggled to recover as her German rival jumped to a 4-0 lead in the decider. Spurred on by her fans, the 20-year-old Belgian managed to break again, but Petkovic prevailed.
Photo: AFP
Earlier, Dominika Cibulkova made light work of qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko to reach the second round with a 6-1, 6-2 victory.
The sixth-seeded Cibulkova, who was playing in her first match since losing to Serena Williams in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, broke her opponent twice in the first three games to set the tone for the match.
Bondarenko has recently returned to the tour after the birth of her first child and could not match Cibulkova’s pace in the second set, dropping her serve three more times.
Cibulkova takes on another qualifier in the next round after Indy de Vroome rallied past Tsvetana Pironkova, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.
Eighth-seeded Karolina Pliskova and Monica Niculescu also progressed.
Pliskova got off to a strong start against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, jumping to a 4-0 lead, but her 56th-ranked Croatian opponent did not go down without a fight in a 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) loss.
THAILAND OPEN
Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina yesterday comfortably dispatched Japan’s Kurumi Nara in another surprise upset at Pattaya to make it through to the third round of the WTA tournament.
Right-handed Rodina, ranked 109 in the world, saw off fourth seed Nara 6-2, 6-4 in a little over an hour at the popular Thai seaside resort.
A day earlier, China’s top-ranked player Peng Shuai tumbled out of the tournament to Japan’s unfancied Misaki Doi in a three-set loss.
China’s Lin Zhu was forced to pull out of her second-round match yesterday against compatriot Ying-Ying Duan. At the time Lin had just lost the first set 6-1.
Russia’s Daniela Hantuchova also saw off China’s Saisai Zheng 7-6, 6-2.
The Russians have so far made a strong showing at Pattaya, with Rodina and Hantuchova joining compatriot and two-time Grand Slam finalist Vera Zvonareva in the third round.
In the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Chin-wei and partner Xu Yifan from China went through to the semi-finals in a walkover after their opponents, Anastasia Rodionova and Zvonereva forfeited the match.
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