Bychkova notches upset win in Thailand

PATTAYA, Thailand, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Ekaterina Bychkova pulled off the biggest upset of Thursday's second-round play at the PTT Pattaya Open tennis tournament in Thailand.

Bychkova defeated fellow Russia Vera Dushevina, the tournament's No. 3 seed, 6-4, 6-1, piling up six breaks in Dushevina's nine service games. Bychkova won 55 percent of the points when Dushevina served in advancing to the quarterfinals.

Top-seeded Vera Zvonareva, another Russian, won Thursday, taking out Alberta Brianti 6-3, 6-2 and moving to a quarterfinal pairing against No. 5-seeded Austrian Sybille Bammer.

Bammer claimed a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 triumph over Kai-Chen Chang in her second-round match. There were 14 service breaks in the match, eight by Bammer.

Also Thursday, German Tatjana Malek got past Yung-Jan Chan in a see-saw 6-2, 0-6, 7-5 match and Russian Anna Chakvetadze breezed by Anastasia Rodionova 6-4, 6-1 behind six service breaks.

In addition to the Zvonareva-Bammer match Friday, the tournament quarterfinals have fourth-seeded Yaroslava Shvedova taking on Malek, Bychkova meeting Sesil Karatantcheva and Chakvetadze going against local favorite Tamarine Tanasugarn.