NEW HAVEN, CT, USA - Just like she did in her first round match, top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova barely escaped the jaws of defeat in the second round on Wednesday with a 64 57 76(2) victory over qualifier Yanina Wickmayer.
Kuznetsova, ranked No.6 in the world and the reigning French Open champ, held a match point at 64 54 but missed out and wound up fighting for her life trailing 5-3 in the deciding set. But the Russian, who was playing against Wickmayer for the first time, recovered from that deficit and from 1-2 in the tie-break won six straight points to close out the topsy-turvy match.
In her first match of the week, Kuznetsova led Zheng Jie, 61 42, before the Chinese pushed the match to a third and led 3-1. Kuznetsova won, 61 67(5) 64.
In other second round matches Wednesday, No.2 seed and defending champion Caroline Wozniacki beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 61 64; No.3 seed Flavia Pennetta beat Iveta Benesova, 76(1) 64; Virginie Razzano advanced, 36 64 retired, when No.5 seed Agnieszka Radwanska retired due to a right hand injury; Elena Vesnina upset No.9 seed Samantha Stosur, 36 63 64; and, at night, No.6 seed Marion Bartoli retired against Magdalena Rybarikova, 16 76(5) 20. Bartoli had match points at 61 53 but couldn't close the match out, and wound up having to stop play due to a left thigh muscle strain.
No.8 seed Amelie Mauresmo and Anna Chakvetadze won on Tuesday to advance to the quarterfinals.
Thursday's quarters will pit Kuznetsova against Mauresmo, Wozniacki against Razzano, Pennetta against Rybarikova and Vesnina against Chakvetadze. The Kuznetsova-Mauresmo match will be the feature night match, and it is perhaps the most anticipated, given it will be a former world No.2 against a former world No.1 with the head-to-head tied, 4-4. Kuznetsova could have the upper hand however, given she has won their last four meetings, all in straight sets.
