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Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez

Upsets mark second-round in Barcelona

Thu, 04/15/2010 - 10:28 by Rakhi

Barcelona, Spain -- No. 3-seed Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez was among three highly seeded players losing in second-round play Wednesday in Spain's $220,000 Barcelona Ladies Open.

Martinez Sanchez dropped a 7-5, 3-6, 7-4 decision to Arantxa Parra Santonja in a match that took more than 2 1/2 hours.

Parra Santonja won just four more points -- 111-107 -- over the course of the match but had a total of eight service breaks in the first and third sets in winning.

Other upsets claimed fourth-seeded Maria Kirilenko, who lost 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 to Yaroslava Shvedova in another long match, and No. 5-seeded Sorana Cirstea, who was ousted 6-1, 6-4 by Iveta Benesova in a relatively brisk 68 minutes.

Pennetta reaches Palermo quarterfinals

Thu, 07/16/2009 - 11:09 by preet_20

Palermo, Italy July 15: Top-seeded Flavia Pennetta made it into the third round of the Palermo International Wednesday with a straight-sets victory over Roberta Vinci.

Pennetta, ranked 15th in the world, overcame a sluggish start on the red clay surface to defeat Vinci 7-5, 6-1.

That set up a quarterfinal meeting with Aravane Rezai, who survived a duel with Varvara Lepchenko 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-2.

In other second-round action, Tathiana Garbin surprised Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-2, 6-2. Sanchez was coming off a title last week is Bastad.

Garbin's quarterfinal opponent will be Olga Govortsova, who upset sixth-seeded Ekaterina Makarova 6-2, 6-2.

Pennetta, Errani 1st round Palermo winners

Wed, 07/15/2009 - 12:30 by preet_20

Palermo, Italy July 14: Two Italians -- top-seeded Flavia Pennetta and reigning champion Sara Errani -- were among Tuesday's winners at the Palermo International.

Pennetta defeated Spanish qualifier Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-2, 6-3 and Errani, seeded fifth, beat Ukrainian Mariya Koryttseva 6-4, 6-4 in a rematch of last year's final.

Last week's Bastad titlist, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain, upset third-seeded Frenchwoman Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-2 on Day 2 in Palermo.

Also, No. 6 Russian Ekaterina Makarova defeated American Jill Craybas 6-3, 6-1 and German Anna-Lena Groenefeld beat No. 8 Argentine Gisela Dulko 6-4, 6-1.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.