Women's round-up - day four
Mary Pierce produced a brave fightback against 22nd seed Jelena Dokic to book her place in the third round of the US Open.
Pierce, who has fought her way back to fitness following two injury plagued seasons, showed glimpses of the power game that
helped her to win two Grand Slam titles on her way to a 6-2 6-7 7-6 success.
The 28-year-old French star broke Dokic with a
cheeky drop volley to jump into a 5-2 lead on her way to taking
the opening set.
But at 5-4 and serving for the match, Pierce could not close
out the second set, squandering a match point to allow Dokic to level the contest.
Dokic stormed to a 5-1 lead in the third but failed to hold her nerve giving 64th ranked Pierce a surprise victory.
After the victory, an elated Pierce said: "It was an exciting game.
"One minute I was ahead, then she was serving for the match.
"It must have been good to watch but it just happened that way I guess but it made the victory sweeter.
"I kept repeating that one word to myself. You never know
what can happen in tennis."
Jennifer Capriati , the number six seed, had few problems against
Slovakia's Martina Sucha, winning 6-1 6-1 in just 63 minutes.
French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne advanced to the third round with a 6-1 6-2 triumph over Croatia's Silvija
Second seed Henin-Hardenne will face Japan's Saori Obata in the
Henin-Hardenne needed only 51 minutes to oust Talaja, swatting
26 winners past the 25-year-old.
Luxembourg's Claudine Schaul joined Pierce and Heninin the third round in her first Grand Slam event.
Schaul, who has been playing the professional tour for the past
year, defeated America's Samantha Reeves 6-1 4-6 6-3.
Japan's Ai Sugiyama battled back from a first set hiding to beat French star Virginie Razzano 1-6 6-3 6-3.
The number 15 seed will now meet the winner of the clash between Nicole Pratt and Silvia Farina Elia.
Sugiyama's compatriot Saori Obata joined her in the third round, beating 32nd seed Marie-Gaianeh Mikaelian 7-5 6-4.
Russian Dinara Safina booked her place in round three, crushing Slovakian Ludmila Cervanova 6-4 6-1.
In other women's action, eleventh seed Elena Dementieva beat Tatiana Perebiynis 5-7 6-4 6-0.