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Peer ousts defending champion in Budapest

SHAHAR Peer of Israel upset defending champion Alize Cornet of France in straight sets in the second round of the US$220,000 Budapest GDF Suez Grand Prix in Budapest on Wednesday.

Peer jumped ahead 5-1 in the first set before losing her serve, but did not allow Cornet much of a comeback and quickly closed out the set 6-2. The second set was even more lopsided and ended 6-0.

"I played very well, I did what I had to do," Peer said. "I managed to hold on to my tactics to play aggressively and control the game."

In Friday's quarterfinal, Peer will face sixth-seeded Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine who defeated Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

Also in the second round, Romania's Edina Gallovits upset third-seeded Sybille Bammer of Austria 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Bammer won the first set as expected and was up 2-0 in the second when Gallovits won three games in a row.

In the decisive set, Gallovits played more consistently and forced her opponent to commit more errors.

"In the first set, I tried to apply strong shots and they did not work," Gallovits said. "Later, I started to mix the shots and play with more patience and it turned out to be a winner."

Gallovits will play qualifier Petra Martic of Croatia who beat Ukraine's Maria Koryttseva 6-3, 6-2.

In the only first round match played on Wednesday, top-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland defeated Andrea Petkovic of Germany 7-6 (3), 6-1.

The first set was even until Petkovic took a 4-2 lead by breaking Schnyder's service. Down 2-5, the Swiss player struggled but won her service game, which inspired her to break Petkovic's serve in the next game and then win the tie-break.

The second set was more balanced as Schnyder played more consistently and made fewer unforced errors.

Schnyder next opponent will be Italy's Maria Elena Camerin.

"I couldn't hit the ball as strong as I would have liked because of the injury," Schnyder said after the match. "I wasn't 100 percent ... but it was a good test."

In Newport, Rhode Island, Alex Bogomolov Jr unexpectedly found himself in the spotlight at the Hall of Fame Championships on Wednesday, upsetting fifth-seeded Arnaud Clement of France 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round of the rain-hampered event.

Playing in the one of the few mid-afternoon matches, Bogomolov beat Clement in front of an unusually large crowd on a side court.

Heavy rain halted the only three matches that were played on Tuesday. Despite bright sunshine, center court and one of the two side courts were still soggy on Wednesday.

Officials were unable to get center court in playable condition despite spending most of the day trying.

In other opening-round matches, third-seeded Sam Querrey of the United States beat Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain 6-3, 6-2; Nicholas Mahut of France beat American Amer Delic 6-4, 6-4, while sixth-seeded Philipp Petzschner of Germany defeated Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-2 in match that started on Tuesday.





 

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