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Tanasugarn upsets Lisicki at Pattaya Open

PATTAYA, Thailand - Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn stunned Sabine Lisicki at the Pattaya Open on Wednesday, advancing to the quarter-finals with a battling 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 victory over the second seeded German.

The result continued a poor start to the 2010 season for Lisicki, who fell to Victoria Azarenka in her opening round in Sydney and then, ranked 24, she was upset in the second round of the Australian Open by 73^rd-ranked Italian Alberta Brianti.

The match was an absorbing contest between two players who rallied consistently well and made few unforced errors.

The final set hung in the balance until the end, as Lisicki broke to lead 4-2 when Tanasugarn double-faulted and Tanasugarn immediately broke back with a winning return.

Another unplayable return then gave Tanasugarn a further break for 6-5, and she safely served out the match.

“It was the first time payed each other and in the first set I guess she didn’t know my game and that gave me an advantage,” said Tanasugarn.

“Then in the second she changed her game and started doing dropshots and she was serving well.

“At the end of the second set and beginning of the third I was too rushed on my shots, but then it was so close. There were some close line calls. They went both ways, but in the last game it was kind of lucky for me that I got the points with the calls.”

Eighth seed Julia Georges of Germany also fell in a second round match, crushed 6-2, 6-1 by Kazakhstan’s Sesil Karatantcheva, and India’s Sania Mirza was beaten, slumping 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the first round to Tatjana Malek of Germany.

Mirza, who last year finished as runner-up to Vera Zvonareva, made a confident start and broke serve in the opening game.

Malek’s aggressive baseline play allowed her to level at 2-2, but then Mirza took control by dropping just three points in the last four games.

But, instead of solidifying her advantage in the second set, Mirza allowed several opportunities to slip away.

She failed to take a 2-0 lead after holding three break points, and she also failed to convert a fourth break point at 2-1.

Sixth-seeded Mirza finally broke to lead 4-2 when Malek netted a backhand, but instead of riding that advantage to victory she claimed just four of the next 16 points as Malek recovered to level the match.

Three breaks to start the final set left Malek leading 2-1, and although she failed to serve out the match at 5-2, she broke Mirza once more at 5-3 to secure her victory.

Fifth seed Sybille Bammer fared better, but had to battle hard to overcome New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic 7-6 (10-8), 7-5.

The Austrian left-hander broke for 3-2 but was unable to serve out the set at 5-4, and she needed four set points before winning the tiebreak.

Roles were reversed in the second set when Erakovic failed to serve out the set after breaking to lead 5-4, and after Bammer had held serve to lead 6-5 she broke her opponent to claim victory on her third match point.

Third seed Vera Dushevina of Russia had an easier task in overcoming Kazak Galina Voskoboeva 6-4, 6-2, but seventh seed Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan was forced to retire with an left ankle injury when trailing Australia’s Anastasia Rodionova 6-1, 1-0.