Marion Bartoli battled more than three hours Wednesday to get past Russian Vera Dushevina and into the third round of the WTA's green clay Charleston tournament.
France's Bartoli, the third seed and the second-highest ranked player in the draw behind second-seeded Australian Samantha Stosur, cruised past Dushevina in the first set, then found herself fighting for a 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4 victory in a match lasting three hours and four minutes.
Bartoli, who snapped Victoria Azarenka's 26-match unbeaten streak when she downed the world number one en route to the semi-finals at Miami last week, was playing her first match at Charleston after enjoying a first-round bye.
She next faces Slovenia's Polona Hercog, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over American Varvara Lepchenko.
In other early matches, Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan defeated Argentinian qualifier Paula Ormaechea 6-2, 6-3 to set up a third-round clash with Stosur.
New Zealand's Marina Erakovic, seeded 17th, beat Georgia's Anna Tatishvili 7-5, 6-3 to advance to a meeting with fifth-seeded American Serena Williams.
Venus Williams, who received a wild card into the draw as she tries to rebuild a world ranking hit by a lengthy injury and illness layoff, was to take on seventh-seeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic in a second-round clash of former world number ones under the lights on Wedenesday night.
Sixth-seeded German Sabine Lisicki, who won her first WTA title at Charleston in 2009, was also in action on Wednesday, taking on Czech lucky loser Andrea Hlavackova.
Source: AFP
