Defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova survives dramatic tussle to move in Round Three
Defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsovau00a0survives dramatic tussleu00a0to move in Round ThreeDefending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova tonight came within a whisker of being dumped out of the French Open after surviving four match points in an extraordinary second-round win over Andrea Petkovic.
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| Relieved: Defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova saved four match points against Andrea Petkovic to advance into Round Three yesterday. Pics/AFP |
Seeded six, Kuznetsova was out of sorts for two sets of her rain-affected match on Court One and looked down and out when her opponent reached at 40-0 while serving for the match in the second.
But German World No 41 Petkovic crumbled under pressure, wasting all three of those match points and a fourth in a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 defeat.
Kuznetsova needed four match points herself to seal victory in two hours and 12 minutes and avoid arguably the biggest upset of this year's tournament.
The Russian had cruised through Round One, while Petkovic needed three sets to dispatch Elena Vesnina.
But it was Kuznetsova who suffered most yesterday in a topsy-turvy first set, dropping her serve every time she conceded break point.
She also broke Petkovic twice but the 22-year-old did enough to take a one-set lead before the rain came.
Serve dominated once they returned to court but Petkovic once again made the most of a solitary break point.
Serving for the match in game 10 of the second set, the German blew a 40-0 lead, saved two break-back points and wasted a fourth match point before finally dropping serve.
Kuznetsova made her pay by levelling the match and looked on course to complete a remarkable comeback when she went 2-0 up in the third.
She let Petkovic back into it before wasting match points of her own at 5-2 and -- on her own serve -- at 5-3 before her opponent handed her the match in the next game.
Kuznetsova was at a loss to explain how she survived.
"I don't know," said the 24-year-old, who will now play fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko after the 30th seed beat Yvonne Meusburger in straight sets.
"I really want to be here - that is really what I want the most. The one thing I want in the world is to be here right not and I wanted to win so badly.
"I just hoped. I said, 'I'm still going to do my best. I'm going to put balls in and see what happens'."
Petkovic admitted she bottled the majority of her match points.
She said: "She played well on the first match point. And the others, I rushed into it."
