Safina Falls to Peng in Third Round Action

The 19-year-old Peng advanced to the quarterfinals with a strong performance as she ousted 16th seeded Dinara Safina of Russia, 7-6 (7), 6-0.

In a hard-fought first set, Peng and Safina traded service breaks midway through the set, but remained on serve for the rest of the set.

Serving at 5-6 to stay in the set, Peng won the game at love to force a tiebreaker. Peng quickly jumped to a 5-1 lead and went on to win the tiebreak 7-2.

Any hopes that Safina had of winning the second set were crushed as Peng won eight of the first 11 points to open up a 2-0 lead.

In the following game, Peng fought off three break points after falling behind 0-40 to increase her lead to 3-0.

Peng, ranked 46 in the world, won 12 of the final 16 points to win the match and eliminate Safina.

• Peng will face the winner of the Jelena Jankovic / Kim Clijsters match in the quarterfinals.
• Peng is making her Acura Classic debut.
• Peng‘s 2005 match record improves to 18-10.
• This was the first head-to-head meeting between Peng and Safina.
• Safina was making her Acura Classic debut.
• Safina is now 23-13 in 2005.
• Safina is ranked 26 in the world.

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