PARIS, France – Daria Gavrilova, the No.24 seed, was made to work hard for her place in the third round of the French Open as Bernarda Pera pushed her, 5-7, 7-5, 6-3.
It was the American who struck first in an encounter that lasted more than two and a half hours, breaking for the third and decisive time in the additional games.
Gavrilova adopted a more conservative attitude in the second, cutting down dramatically on her unforced errors as the count on the other side of the net steadily rose. It proved a shrewd tactic as she pinched a set in which breaks were exchanged frequently.
The Australian largely controlled the decider but Pera doggedly held on before eventually succumbing by a single break.
There was also success for her counterpart Samantha Stosur, who shocked Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the No.31 seed, 6-2, 7-6(1).
The 34-year-old overpowered the Russian in the opening set, hitting twice as many winners to unforced errors.
While this ratio slipped in the second in the face of increased pressure from her opponent, she managed to drag the set out into a tiebreak. Outplayed to that point in the second, she clicked into gear in the decider and claimed it for the loss of only one point.
No.19 seed Magdalena Rybarikova enjoyed more straightforward progress out on Court 9, where she claimed a 6-2, 6-4 win over Belinda Bencic.
She returned impressively in the opening set, despite her opponent making 68% of her first serves, and committed only nine unforced errors in comparison to the 22 made by the Swiss.
In the second, Rybarikova was more expansive, created a number of opportunities and ultimately moved through with some degree of comfort.
Elsewhere, Andrea Petkovic defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands in two contrasting sets, 6-0, 7-6(5).
