NEW YORK, NY, USA - WTA stars Francesca Schiavone and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova will once again meet at a Slam, after both toughed out wins in the third round on a sold-out Saturday afternoon at the US Open.
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Schiavone, the No.7 seed, was the first to advance, although she had by far the tougher go of things, saving match point in the second set to beat Chanelle Scheepers, 57 76(5) 63. Scheepers served for the match at 75 54 and had a 40-30 lead in that game but Schiavone hung tough and eventually came good.
"She was good, she was consistent, but I wasn't really playing my best tennis," Schiavone said. "But to come back and win after a fight like that is great."
Pavlyuchenkova, the No.17 seed, followed shortly afterwards with a minor upset over No.11 seed Jelena Jankovic, 64 64. Although Jankovic ranks higher, Pavlyuchenkova had won their only two meetings going into the match.
"She's very consistent, moves very well and is very experienced and smart, so I just had to play aggressive and finish the points off," Pavlyuchenkova said of Jankovic, a finalist here three years ago. "I'm very happy with my game right now. I have a lot to improvements to make, but I think I'm on my way now."
The standout stat: Pavlyuchenkova was 4/4 in her break point opportunities, Jankovic 2/8. "When I got my chances, I really tried to take them."
Schiavone leads Pavlyuchenkova in their head-to-head series, 3-1, but their most recent meeting couldn't have been closer, as Schiavone rallied from 61 41 down to win at Roland Garros earlier this year (read more here).
Also setting up a fourth round clash were No.10 seed Andrea Petkovic and Carla Suárez Navarro. Suárez Navarro, a two-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist and former No.22 who is now down at No.76, was the first to win, beating fellow Spaniard Sílvia Soler-Espinosa, 60 64. Soler-Espinosa was a qualifier.
Suárez Navarro seemed on her way to the Top 20 two years ago after reaching quarterfinals at the 2008 French Open and 2009 Australian Open, but ankle and elbow injuries the last two years have seen her progress halted. She has bettered her US Open performance from last year - first round - by a long way.
Petkovic followed with a 64 60 win over No.18 seed Roberta Vinci. "I had two things I was really focused on today: attacking the serves and putting more spin on the ball, just to have more margin over the net, because she plays the slice so deep and so flat. At the start I was missing a bit more, but once I found my rhythm I think everything came together pretty well. I was pretty satisfied."
Petkovic was nearly out of the tournament the round before, rallying from 63 30 down to beat former Top 15 player Zheng Jie of China, 36 63 63.
