Third seed Kuznetsova out of Australian Open

MELBOURNE - Nadia Petrova beat her second Grand Slam champion in succession when she bundled third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova out of the Australian Open 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 on Sunday.

By (AFP)

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Published: Sun 24 Jan 2010, 11:36 AM

Last updated: Mon 6 Apr 2015, 8:59 AM

Petrova destroyed US Open champion Kim Clijsters in the third round and suffered no let down as she outlasted fellow Russian Kuznetsova, the French Open champion, in a shade over two hours to make the quarter-finals.

Kuznetsova, the world number three, struggled in the third round to beat German qualifier Angelique Kerber in a match that started late on Friday night and finished early Saturday morning.

She appeared distracted in the first set against Petrova, losing her first service game and struggling to make an impression after that.

She fought back in the second set and looked far more composed, breaking Petrova at 4-3 and holding her own serve to level the match.

And when she opened the third set by breaking Petrova, she seemed back on track and headed for the last eight.

But that was as good as it got for the third seed, with the 27-year-old Petrova storming through the set without dropping another game to record her second win over Kuznetsova in seven meetings.

The win also put Petrova, who was once ranked number three in the world, into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for only the second time, having lost in 2006 to Maria Sharapova.

She now faces either Justine Henin or Yanina Wickmayer, with the two Belgians facing each other later Sunday.


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