Szavay on course for New Haven repeat

Fourth seed Hungarian Agnes Szavay was forced to dig deep to defeat Italian lucky loser Sara Errani 6-4 6-7 (3/7) 6-4 in the second round of the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament on Tuesday.
 
Szavay, last year's beaten finalist and one of four players to receive a first round bye, had to fight back after falling behind 3-1 in the first set and dropping the second.
 
But after serving her way to 5-4 in the decider, she broke Errani's serve to clinch the marathon victory in two hours and 37 minutes.
 
Last year Szavay advanced through the qualifying round to reach the final before withdrawing due to injury when trailing 6-4 0-3 to Svetlana Kuznetsova.
 
The 19-year-old followed up that effort with a run to the semi-finals at the US Open and a win at Beijing where she beat current world number two Jelena Jankovic in the final.
 
Szavay appeared on the verge of becoming a top-10 player but her success at the end of last season has not carried over into 2008, especially on this surface.
 
Currently ranked 14th, she has yet to win a title this year, is 23-18 overall and just 3-8 at hardcourt events.
 
In the only other second round encounter on Tuesday, third seed Marion Bartoli of France came from behind to defeat unseeded Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova 2-6 6-4 7-5.
 
Pironkova had the heavily favoured Bartoli on the backfoot early after taking a lopsided first set but the former Wimbledon finalist fought back to claim the next two.
 
In the final first round matches at the 600,000 event, former world number one Amelie Mauresmo of France - currently ranked 33rd - struggled to defeat Estonia's Kaia Kanepi 6-2 6-7 (3/7) 6-2 to set up a second round meeting with Switzerland's Patty Schnyder.
 
Sixth seed Flavia Pennetta cruised past Gisela Dulko 6-3 6-1, while qualifier Monica Niculescu beat Maria Kirilenko 6-7 (7/9) 6-2 6-1.

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