Pennetta survives marathon match in Italy

PALERMO, Italy, July 13 (UPI) -- Top-seeded Flavia Pennetta survived a three-set challenge from Mathilde Johansson in a second-round match Wednesday at the SNAI Open tennis tournament in Italy.

Pennetta got by Johansson 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in a match that took 2 hours, 50 minutes and 247 points. Pennetta ended with eight service breaks, with three in each the second and third sets.

Johansson had seven breaks, including two in the final set, but hurt her chances with 13 double faults.

The other three seeded players on Wednesday's schedule also advanced.

No. 6-seeded Tsvetana Pironkova won just two games in the first set but lost only two the rest of the way in a 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 win over Sorana Cirstea. Pironkova won two-thirds of the points over the last two sets.

She will go against Pennetta in the quarterfinals Friday.

Seventh-seeded Polona Hercog and No. 8-seeded Petra Cetkovska won by identical 6-2, 6-4 scores with both matches taking 90 minutes.

Hercog dropped serve once in a win over Alberta Brianti while Cetkovska defeated Akgul Amanmuradova without losing her serve.

They will have to wait until Thursday's second-round matches before their quarterfinal opponents are determined, however.