Schnyder sails on, Molik upset at Bali

Bruce Emond, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali

Swiss second seed Patty Schnyder was all business in opening her campaign at the US$225,000 Wismilak International on Thursday, but Alicia Molik took an unwanted detour on her comeback trail.

The athletic left hander, who received a bye in the first round, defeated Spanish doubles specialist Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-2, 6-3 for a quarterfinal spot at the hardcourt tournament.

Despite the scoreline, Ruano Pascual played well in the second set, breaking Schnyder's service and leading 3-1 before the Swiss rattled off five games in row.

"She's a tough player. I changed my game a bit when I fell behind," said Schnyder, who increased her head-to-head record against Ruano Pascual to 6-0.

Schnyder next plays Aiko Nakamura of Japan. The world number 84 upset fifth seed Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany 6-3, 1-6, 6- 1.

"We played a tough three setter in Cincinnati," Schnyder said of their match on her way to winning the U.S. Open warmup in July. "I know it will be tough and I'll have to stay focused. The courts here are slow so everybody has a chance."

Based on the seedings, Alona Bondarenko's defeat of third seed Molik was the biggest upset of the day, but the Australian is still recovering from a five-month hiatus due to an inner ear infection that affected her balance.

The 77th ranked Ukrainian "came out swinging", Molik said later, drilling her opponent's backhand to reach 5-1 and serve for the first set.

As she did in her first round match against Mariana Diaz Oliva, Molik began a fightback, saving two set points before breaking the 21-year-old Ukrainian's serve. She held serve and then saved three more set points to break Bondarenko once again.

Bondarenko, unlike Diaz Oliva, did not let her lead slip.

Molik's lack of matchplay and the confidence that brought her a world ranking of 8 in February told when she served to tie up the set in the 10th game.

The Ukrainian won three points in a row to reach 40-30 and, after a long baseline rally in which both women drove each other from side to side, Molik slapped a tired forehand wide.

Bondarenko raced away with the first four games of the second set before Molik broke her and then held at love. It only delayed the inevitable; Bondarenko followed by holding at love and then broke Molik for a 6-4, 6-2 triumph.

"I played into her rhythm," the all-courter from Adelaide admitted. "There were short balls I should have come in on but I didn't."

Sixth seed Flavia Pennetta rallied from a first set loss to beat China's Jie Zheng 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to set up an all-Italian quarterfinal against fourth seeded Francesca Schiavone.

As with the U.S. Open earlier this month, Ekaterina Bychkova was unable to string two victories together.

She beat defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in New York City in the first round, only to lose in the second. Here, she followed her upset of 8th seeded Indian Sania Mirza with a 6-4, 6-3 loss to Maria Elena Camerin, the third Italian through to the quarterfinals.

The 23 year old from Venice reached the semifinals here last year, but she will have to hope for a great day on Friday if she wants to match that result. She meets top seeded American Lindsay Davenport, who beat her in straight sets in their only meeting two years ago.