TENNIS in DEPTH.

Fourth seed Elena Dementieva survived a scare from wild card Anastasia Pivovarova to prevail 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 in an all-Russian second round clash at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami on Friday.

In a match featuring 13 breaks of serve, Dementieva converted eight of 19 break point opportunities to secure victory over her 172nd-ranked compatriot in one hour and 51 minutes – avoiding a repeat of the second round upset she suffered in Indian Wells two weeks ago (l. to Cetkovska). The 27-year-old is making her ninth main draw appearance at the Sony Ericsson Open and was the runner-up to Serena Williams in 2004.

The Monte-Carlo resident has enjoyed strong results on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in 2009 and has a 22-4 match record. She captured back-to-back titles at the start of the year in Auckland (d. Vesnina) and Sydney (d. Safina), was runner-up in Paris (l. to Mauresmo) and reached the semifinals at the Australian Open (l. to S. Williams).

Italian 15th seed Flavia Pennetta defeated doubles partner Maria Kirilenko of Russia 6-4, 7-5 to secure her place in the third round. Pennetta and Kirilenko are the eighth seeds in the Sony Ericsson Open doubles event and reached the semifinals together in Indian Wells last week. The 27-year-old Pennetta has not advanced past the third round in four previous main draw appearances at the Sony Ericsson Open, and will look to do so for the first time when she takes on either Magdalena Rybarikova or No. 20 seed Amelie Mauresmo.

Czech Nicole Vaidisova was in devastating form as she accounted for No. 28 seed Alona Bondarenko 6-1, 6-0. World No. 71 Vaidisova, who reached a career-high No. 7 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Rankings on May 14, 2007, was a quarterfinalist in Miami in 2007 (l. to S. Williams). She goes on to face either No. 8 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova or Tamira Paszek.

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