Football
Reuters 18y

Tennis-Schnyder steps up Cincinnati defence with crushing win

NEW YORK, July 19 - Top seed and defending
champion Patty Schnyder of Switzerland crushed American Abigail
Spears 6-1 6-0 on Wednesday to storm into the quarter-finals of
the Cincinnati Open.

After needing three sets and a tie-break to see off Lilia
Osterloh in her opening match on Monday, Schnyder, the world
number eight, needed just 53 minutes to dispose of the
qualifier.

Schnyder, who has not won a title since winning in
Cincinnati a year, raced to a 3-0 lead before allowing Spears a
brief moment of hope claiming her only game at 3-1.

After that the veteran Swiss swept through the next nine
games to keep her title defence on track.

Schnyder will next meet ninth-seeded Sania Mirza of India,
who advanced with a 6-1 0-6 6-1 over Finland's Emma Laine.

"I knew I had to work on some things after the first match,
I didn't expect such a big difference after just one day,"
Schnyder told reporters.

Fourth seed Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia tamed China's
Meng Yuan 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 to reach the last eight while American
Amy Frazier rolled to a 6-3 6-1 win over eighth-seeded
Argentine Gisela Dulko

And Russia's Vera Zvonareva swept past French seventh seed
Tatiana Golovin 6-3 6-0 in the day's only first-round contest.

(Writing by Steve Keating in Toronto)

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