Top seed Daniela Hantuchova showed her mettle to wrest a tense second set from qualifier Olga Savchuk on Wednesday and reach the quarterfinals of the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic.
The world number 11 from Slovakia, in her opening match in the hard-court tournament after receiving a first-round bye, seemed headed for an easy victory after routing the error-prone Savchuk 6-1 in the first set in only 20 minutes.
But the Ukrainian is a talented all-court player, as Hantuchova learned in a shock straight-sets loss in Antwerp in 2006. She boasts a powerful, angled serve, strong groundstrokes and the willingness to move forward and attack, an increasing rarity in the women's game today.
What the 20-year-old still lacks is the match experience to close out a winning lead with percentage tennis instead of go-for-broke shots. That is sure to come with time.
Savchuk began to play better in the second set, holding two break points in the opening game of the Slovak's serve. She failed to capitalize on them, and games stayed on serve until Hantuchova served at 4-all.
Savchuk reached break point with a scorching forehand return, and followed it up with another unplayable backhand. She served for the set at 5-4 with new balls, and there was the real possibility that Hantuchova, who only recently returned to competition after rehab for a right heel injury, might be forced into playing a decider.
Instead the 25-year-old tightened up her play and drew on her experience to reach break point. Then followed the best rally of the match, with both women using every inch of the court as they pummeled corner-to-corner groundstrokes and bent low for cross-court slices.
A fumbled attempted drop shot from Hantuchova brought Savchuk into the net for a backhand sitter. But she smacked it past the baseline to bring the match to 5-5.
With danger averted, the match was as good as won for Hantuchova. She held serve and then reached two match points on Savchuk's serve.
The Ukrainian once again showed a flash of brilliance, moving forward after a perfectly constructed point for a swinging volley winner, but it was not enough to stop the top seed triumphing 6-1, 7-5 in 80 minutes.
"She picked up her game in the second set and served better, but overall I was pleased with the way I played in doing the things I talked about with my coach," said Hantuchova, the 2007 runner-up in Bali to American Lindsay Davenport.
She will play either Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei or China's ninth seeded Shuai Peng in the next round.
In the last match of the night on Center Court, Swiss second seed Patty Schnyder had match point against China's Meng Yuan at 6-2, 6-5 when rain stopped play.
Fifth seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy tamed the giant serve of Uzbek Akgul Amanmuradova 6-3, 6-2 to also reach the last eight. She will meet the winner of Thursday's match between fourth seed Nadia Petrova of Russia and Italy's Tathiana Garbin.
"She has a good serve and forehand, but most of the points only lasted two or three shots," Schiavone, who had also beaten Amanmuradova in straight sets at the Beijing Olympics, of her 1.9 meter opponent. "I played good."
In a match of unseeded players, Poland's Marta Domachowska won a scrappy three-setter against American Jill Craybas 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4 despite serving 10 double faults, including two in her opening service game. The 57th-ranked Domachowska is known for her blasting groundstrokes, but she went through an error-ridden patch at the end of the second set and the beginning of the third.
"It's satisfying to win a tough match like this, I think we both played well but it came down to the mental side of things," said the 22-year-old Pole, who plays the winner of the Schnyder-Yuan match.
In the doubles competition, Indonesians Sandy Gumulya and Lavinia Tananta put up a brave fight before falling to top seeded Hantuchova and Italian Flavia Pennetta 3-6, 4-6.
