Italy's Garbin stuns Petrova in Gold Coast opening round
GOLD COAST, Australia -- Italy's Tathiana Garbin upset second-seeded Nadia Petrova 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 Monday in a first-round match at the Australian women's hard-court tennis championships at Royal Pines.
Garbin advanced to the semifinals here last year against Martina Hingis but had to retire in the first set of that match due to breathing difficulties resulting from a viral illness.
"To come back here and win this match ... was very tough because Nadia is one of the best players in the world," Garbin said. "I'm proud of myself today."
Russia's Dinara Safina, the No. 3 seed, beat Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 and two-time Grand Slam winner Amelie Mauresmo of France easily defeated Olga Savchuk of the Ukraine 6-1, 6-1.
Meghann Shaughnessy ended 2007 on an extremely unlucky note, leading 6-0, 1-0 in her match against Italy's Francesca Schiavone when a knee injury forced the American to retire.
Two-time Gold Coast champion Patty Schnyder of Switzerland had a 6-1, 6-3 win over Russian Alisa Kleybanova. Yuliana Fedak of the Ukraine upset eighth-seeded Agnes Szavay of Hungary 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.
It was Garbin's first win over Petrova in five attempts since their first meeting in 2001.
Petrova came back from 5-0 down to 5-3 in the third before hitting a forehand into the net on match point.
"The key was to give her back every ball,'' said Garbin, who has been training in Spain in the leadup to the Gold Coast tournament. "I ran so much today -- 3 hours almost -- I ran for everything."
Petrova agreed.
"I think she played over her limit and had a really good match from the beginning until the end," Petrova said. "She was like a wolf. She was going for everything and getting every single ball."
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
