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| February 07, 2007 | Wednesday | Muharram 18, 1428 |
Safarova gains revenge over Pironkova
PARIS, Feb 6: Two days after turning 20, Lucie Safarova gained a measure of revenge on teenage Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova on Tuesday winning through to the second round of the 600,000-dollar Paris Indoor Open.
Safarova never lost serve as she battled through to a tough 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3 victory at the Pierre de Coubertin stadium here.
A year ago the pair met in the first round, their only previous meeting, with Pironkova dominating the final set for a 6-2, 2-6, 6-0 victory.
This match ebbed and flowed with break points aplenty despite only two being converted throughout the match.
Pironkova had ample opportunities to take a decisive advantage early in the third set but having wasted several chances, the Bulgarian was broken at 2-3 and Czech Safarova comfortably served out the match.
With her confidence high, she even pulled off a delightful drop shot on match point.
Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy won through to a clash with second seeded compatriot Amelie Mauresmo as she cruised to victory in her first round match.
Dechy eased past Italy's Tathiana Garbin 6-2, 6-3 before paying tribute to her new Dutch coach Martijn Bok, who she has been working with since the Australian Open.
“I have worked well with him over the last two weeks and I feel more solid now,” said Dechy, who bombed out in the first round in Melbourne against Martina Hingis, winning just two games.
This was her first win of the season.
“I don't know why I played badly in Australia but this was a good return to form and I'm happy with it.”In other early matches, Germany's Martina Muller dropped just one game in a 6-1, 6-0 thrashing of Polish qualifier Agnieszka Radwanska to earn a second round meeting with fourth seeded Russian Nadia Petrova.
Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik crushed France's Stephanie Cohen-Aloro to set up a second round tie against third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia.
Results on Tuesday
First Round: Martina Muller (GER) bt Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) 6-1, 6-0
Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) bt Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (FRA) 6-1, 6-4
Nathalie Dechy (FRA) bt Tathiana Garbin (ITA) 6-2, 6-3
Lucie Safarova (CZE) bt Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3
Camille Pin (FRA) bt Agnes Szavay (HUN) 6-4, 6-0.—AFP
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