Petrova's bright form continues

Nadia Petrova of Russia has taken another big-name scalp at Australian Open 2010 after she beat compatriot and No. 3 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in three sets on Sunday.

The large but polite crowd at Hisense Arena witnessed an arm-wrestle, which ended with the No. 19 seed advancing through to her second Australian Open quarter-final with the 6-3 3-6 6-1 victory.

The first set saw a bright start from Petrova – almost as bright as her fluorescent pink outfit – as she broke Kuznetsova in her first service game and then consolidated by holding to take an early 2-0 lead.

Kuznetsova did not surrender though, and with the aid of Hawk-eye, she managed to level scores at 2-2.

An inability to convert break points cost Kuznetsova; she had five opportunities to break and only managed to convert once, while Petrova took two and the set 6-3.

Petrova was continuing with her dominant groundstrokes that she used to destroy Kim Clijsters on Friday night.

“Today was similar. I felt like, you know, my motivation, my concentration was on the same level. But today there were a little more unforced errors than against Kim. But I fought hard. I chased every single ball possible,” Petrova said.

It was not until Kuznetsova varied her shot selection that the match started to even up, with her backhand cross-court slice drop shot in stunning form. Petrova struggled to cope with being taken out of her comfort zone on the baseline.

Kuznetsova seized her best opportunity to take the lead in the seventh game, when she hit a sizzling backhand return that clipped the sideline and set up break point. Petrova effectively handed the second set to Kuznetsova when she over-hit a smash on the next point, and the No. 3 seed held serve to take it 6-3.

Despite being the bigger server of the two, it was Petrova’s return of serve that impressed, and it put her into a winning position early in the deciding set when she broke serve three times to lead 5-1.

“I served to her backhand at advantage, and she just return it too good. I lost that game and then I stopped a little bit. I was still thinking about my service game and by then she held her serve and everything started going too fast,” Kuznetsova said.

“She played good, I give credit to her. It’s the best I’ve seen her play the last two years I think, but I didn’t deserve to win because I wasn’t playing good enough.”

The No. 19 seed came back from love-30 down when serving for the match, eventually closing out the set and match 6-1.

Petrova will face a Belgian next, as she meets the winner between Justine Henin and Yanina Wickmayer, who face off tonight at Rod Laver Arena.

Fast facts

- Both players won 67 per cent of points when they landed their first serves.

- Petrova converted on five of her 11 break point chances, while Kuznetsova was successful on three of nine opportunities.

- Petrova had 47 unforced errors, while Kuznetsova tallied 52.

Current Match on Hisense Arena Hisense Arena - Women's Singles - 4th Round Nadia Petrova RUS (19) 6 3 6 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (3) 3 6 1 Match Statistics Serve Statistics