Epic rematch: Schiavone to face Kuznetsova
Posted February 16, 2011 10:55 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Grand Slam winners Francesca Schiavone and Svetlana Kuznetsova won in the Dubai Championships second round on Wednesday to set up their first clash since their nearly five-hour-long epic at the Australian Open.
Schiavone accounted for Chinese qualifier Zhang Shuai 6-3, 6-1 while Kuznetsova, a two-time runner-up in Dubai, took the long road to beat Tsevetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 for a third straight time.
The wins put them on course to meet on Thursday, more than three weeks since their fourth-round encounter in Melbourne went for four hours 44 minutes in the longest women’s Grand Slam singles in the Open era. Schiavone won.
Looking forward to the match, Schiavone smiled and said, “After two hours, I’ll take the racket and put it in the bag.
“I really want to play against her because we know each other, we play good tennis and we can enjoy it and improve.”
Kuznetsova leads their matchups 8-5 since 2003, but Schiavone has won the last two.
Second-seeded Vera Zvonareva beat Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-3, 6-1. The Russian, still seeking her first title in more than a year, has exited in the Dubai quarter-finals in the last two years.
“It’s never easy to play Roberta, she’s a tricky player,” Zvonareva said.
Fourth-seeded Sam Stosur drubbed Pattaya Open runner-up Sara Errani of Italy 6-0, 6-1 in 55 minutes, and seventh-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus overcame seven double faults to beat Chinese qualifier Peng Shuai 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5).
No. 8 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland beat Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 7-5, 6-4.
Shahar Peer of Israel, a semifinalist last year, defeated Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania 6-4, 6-2, and Marion Bartoli of France outlasted Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
