Friday June 22, 2012
Schiavone saves eight match points to reach the quarter-finals
S-HERTOGENBOSCH: Italy’s Francesca Schiavone reached the quarter-finals at S-Hertogenbosch on Wednesday, saving eight match points in her 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (10-8) win over Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu.
Schiavone, who had fought off a match point in coming back from 5-3 down in the third set of her first round victory over Maria Kirilenko, was seemingly down and out on Wednesday when she was 6-0 down in the third set tie-break.
However, she reeled off six straight points to tie it up, fought off two more match points from there and finally clinched victory at the Wimbledon warm-up event on her first match point.
“When I started the tie-break, I said ‘Francesca, come on, pay attention and take two or three of the first six or seven points.’ Nothing, 6-0,” Schiavone said.
“I went to the other side and told myself there is not too big a difference in winning or losing one point, so keep going and push. We will see what happens. And then I won.”
Schiavone tackles Kim Clijsters in the quarter-finals. She is 0-11 all-time against the Belgian without ever having won a set, though they have not played since 2006.
In the ATP event, top seed David Ferrer reached the quarter-finals, dismissing Leonardo Mayer of Argentina, 6-3, 6-1.
World number six Ferrer, who triumphed on his debut in 2008, next faces Dutch wildcard Igor Sijsling who fired 21 aces past Belgian Olivier Rochus for a 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) victory.
Japan’s Tatsuma Ito lost just 11 points on his serve to defeat third-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-2, 6-2 in just 57 minutes. — AFP
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