Garbin upsets Petrova in Australian women's hard court

Second seed Nadia Petrova of Russia was Monday upset by Tathiana Garbin of Italy 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 in a first round match of the Australian women's hard court tennis championships at the Gold Coast here.

Garbin made it to the semifinals here last year, where she played against former world no. 1 Martina Hingis of Switzerland, but had to retire in the middle of the first set due to a viral illness.

"I feel like I didn't finish the tournament last year," Garbin said after her unexpected win. "To come back here and winning this first round match was very tough because Nadia is one of the best players in the world."

It was Garbin's only win over Petrova in five attempts since their first meeting in 2001.

Petrova, who came back from 5-0 down to 5-3 in the decider, commited an unforced error on match point, when she hit a forehand straight into the net.

In other actions of the day, third seeded Dinara Safina of Russia beat Australia's Jarmila Gajdosova 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, while two-time Grand Slam winner Amelie Mauresmo of France defeated Ukrainian Olga Savchuk 6-1, 6-1.

Swiss girl Patty Schnyder scored a 6-1, 6-3 win over Russian Alisa Kleybanova and another Ukrainian Yuliana Fedak upset eighth-seeded Agnes Szavay of Hungary 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.

--Xinhua

(IANS)

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