CARLSBAD, California - After a lengthy rest, Mary
Pierce passed her first test - barely.
The defending champion needed more than 2 1/2 hours to squeak
past unheralded Austrian Sybille Bammer, 6-1, 6-7 (7-9), 7-6
(7-4), on Wednesday and advance to the third round of the $1.34
million Acura Classic.
"I got a lot of tennis in, that's for sure," Pierce said. "Three
sets, two tiebreakers, being ahead, being down. There's pretty
much everything that can be in a match almost, except having
match points against me, which I was not hoping for.
"It's a good start. The most important thing is I know I can
play without hurting myself."
Pierce, 31, returned to the court after going through a lengthy
rehabilitation to repair a partial torn tendon in her right foot
suffered in the finals of the French Indoors in mid-February.
Fully rested, relaxed and ready, Pierce initially showed little
effects of the layoff. Utilizing her punishing ground game, the
two-time Grand Slam champion rolled through the Bammer in the
opening set.
However, Pierce was pushed hard by the 26-year-old blonde
lefthander in the next two sets.
"I didn't know what to expect," she said. "What happened was
pretty much what I expected. I was just doing the best with
what I had, which I know is not the best right now. At the same
time, this is good training because I need matches and I'm
going to get fitter by playing."
After gaining a service break to forge a 5-5 tie in the second
set, Pierce held three match points in the tiebreaker but
squandered all of them with unforced errors.
In the third set, the 46th-ranked Bammer served for the match at
5-4 but was broken by Pierce. In the ensuing tiebreaker,
Pierce snapped a 4-4 tie by taking the next three points.
Pierce joined four other seeds who advanced to the third round
earlier in the day under hot steamy conditions at the La Costa
Hotel and Spa.
That group does not include third-seeded Nadia Petrova, who was
stunned by fellow Russian Anna Chakvetadze, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2.
"I felt absolutely out of it," said Petrova, who had been
sidelined for more than two months with an abdominal injury that
kept her out of Wimbledon. "The ball was just flying by me. I
also had a tough time deciding which shot I should choose.
"I guess you can go through matches like this after an injury.
It's big disappointment."
Fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia trounced American wild
card Ashley Harkleroad, 6-2, 6-2; No. 11 Daniela Hantuchova of
Slovakia eliminated Olga Savchuk of Romania, 6-2, 6-4; No. 12
Flavia Pennetta of Italy dismissed American Jamea Jackson, 6-2,
7-6 (7-1); and No. 14 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia coasted past
American qualifier Amy Frazier 6-3, 6-2.
Also, Russia's Vera Zvonareva was credited with her 10th victory
in her last 11 matches when China's Shuai Peng suffered heat
exhaustion at 5-4 in the tiebreaker and had to be carried from
an outer court on on a stretcher at 3-6, 7-6 (7-5).
In the featured night match, top-seeded Kim Clijsters of Belgium
kept rolling with a 6-1, 6-2 destruction of Australian Samantha
Stosur in just 53 minutes. Clijsters has won 21 consecutive
summer hardcourt matches dating to last year's U.S. Open crown.
One of eight players to receive a first-round bye, Clijsters next
faces Serbian Jelena Jankovic, who got past Alona Bondarenko of
the Ukraine, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4).
Clijsters won at Stanford on Sunday, beating Switzerland's Patty
Schnyder for her third title of the year.
The fifth-seeded Schnyder plays the night's final match against
Argentine Gisela Dulko.