Updated at 8:25 a.m., Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Tennis: Kuznetsova advances to Porsche quarterfinals
Associated Press
STUTTGART, Germany — Second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated teenager Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3 Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Porsche Grand Prix.Tatiana Golovin, last year's runner-up, also made the last eight by beating U.S. Open semifinalist Anna Chakvetadze 7-6 (3), 6-1.
Kuznetsova bounced back after losing the second set by winning the next five games.
"She played very well in the second set and I didn't do the things I wanted to do," said Kuznetsova, the U.S. Open runner-up who had a first-round bye. "I knew she couldn't go on like that for three sets."
Also, eighth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova defeated Lucie Safarova 6-1, 6-3, Kateryna Bondarenko beat Karin Knapp 7-5, 6-0 and Michaella Krajicek defeated Alona Bondarenko 6-3, 6-2.
Kuznetsova held three break points at 5-5 in the second set, but Radwanska saved them all and won the tiebreaker on a backhand passing shot.
The 18-year-old Radwanska, who defeated defending champion Maria Sharapova in the third round of the U.S. Open, won her first title last month in Stockholm.
Kuznetsova is looking for her second title of the year at the Porsche Grand Prix, which has eight of the top 10 players, with only Sharapova and Venus Williams absent.
Chakvetadze broke into the top 10 this year with four titles, and is currently No. 6.
The 19th-ranked Golovin won the big points and fought from two breaks down to win the first set. She pulled even on breaks with Chakvetadze serving for the set, then took the tiebreaker on the fourth-seeded Russian's double-fault.
