In contrast to her straightforward victory over ailing Serb Jelena
Jankovic, the Russian was pushed hard by Azarenka, who arrived in the Qatari
capital fresh from capturing her second title of the year in Moscow.
After an uninspired opening, punctuated by a bizarre breakdancing
interlude on the purple-colored court following the second changeover,
Zvonareva's superior groundstrokes began to tell as Azarenka became increasingly
erratic and emotional.
The 21-year-old from Belarus squandered a glorious chance to
break in the eighth game, letting out a deafening shriek of frustration.
The first set went to a tiebreak, Zvonareva breaking immediately
to jump out to an early lead and despite struggling on her own serve she
wrapped it up 7-4.
In the second set, Zvonareva had the pony-tailed Azarenka on
the back foot, arrowing deep backhands to the corners and finding her target
with sickening consistency.
Despite playing a day earlier, the Russian was the one dictating
the pace, pushing Azarenka around the court and forcing her into a string of
unforced errors.
At 5-4 down, Azarenka saved two match points but she netted a
weak forehand on the third to hand victory to the Russian.
Melzer into Vienna quarters
In Vienna, defending champion Jurgen Melzer defeated Lukasz
Kubot of Poland 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) to reach the quarterfinals of the Bank Austria
Trophy on Wednesday.
Melzer, top-seeded on tour for the first time, had an early
break but then lost four games in a row to go 5-3 down. He saved a set point
when Kubot served at 5-4, and took the opening set on his first chance in the
tiebreaker.
Melzer went 4-1 up in the second but again needed a
tiebreaker, and converted his first match point when Kubot netted a return.
“It was far from easy as he took many risks,” Melzer said of
Kubot, who served 13 aces but also nine double faults. “I was more consistent
and tried to stick to my own game.”
Melzer, at a career-high 12th ranking, said winning the
first set from 5-3 down was key.
“I was very glad to take that opener,” the Austrian said.
“From then on, I knew I had to rely on my own strengths.”
In the quarterfinals, Melzer will take on either
seventh-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber or fellow German Tobias Kamke.
In first-round play, Bjorn Phau had a surprise 6-2, 6-4 win
over fellow German Florian Mayer, who lost his third career final to Roger
Federer in Stockholm on Sunday.
Phau next plays fourth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis, who had a
bye in the first round.
Isner reaches quarterfinals
In Montpellier, France, fifth-seeded John Isner of the
United States moved to 999 aces for the season as he edged out French qualifier
Adrian Mannarino 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 6-3 in the second round of the Open Sud de
France on Wednesday.
The 2.09-meter (6-foot-9) Isner sent down 27 aces in a 2
hours, 11 minutes win on the indoor hard court and converted his sole break
point to advance, while Mannarino wasted his six break chances.
Isner will next play either No. 3 Gael Monfils of France or
Steve Darcis of Belgium for a semifinal spot.
Jarkko Nieminen of Finland rallied from one set down to
claim his first victory in six matches over Frenchman Florent Serra and reach
the second round with a 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-1 win.
Defending champ Stakhovsky ousted
In St. Petersburg, Russia, defending champion Sergiy
Stakhovsky was eliminated from the St. Petersburg Open on Wednesday, losing to
Benjamin Becker of Germany 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in the first round.
After losing the first set, the 37th-ranked Ukrainian saved
a match point and broke Becker in the 12th game of the second set to stay in
the match. But the 57th-ranked Becker never gave Stakhovsky a chance in the
third set, losing only six points on his serve.
“It’s always difficult to come and defend your title,” Stakhovsky
said. “I could have won the match, but the chances I had, I didn’t use them
properly and the match was over. I cannot say that I played badly, but he left
me no chances after a break in the third set.”
Also, fourth-seeded Yen-hsun Lu of Taiwan defeated Potito
Starace of Italy 6-2, 6-2. Rainer Schuettler stopped fifth-seeded Viktor
Troicki 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
Alexandr Dolgopolov defeated Fabio Fognini 7-6 (5), 6-4.
