Bali, Indonesia - Challenger Chan Yung-Jan of Taiwan made life a misery for Daniela Hantuchova, forcing the top seed to fight for her place in the semi-finals of the Commonwealth Bank Classic 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-2 on Friday.
By contrast, Swiss second seed Patty Schnyder won a 51-minute match which lasted no longer than Hantuchova's tortured opening set which featured eight breaks of serve.
US Open quarter-finalist Schnyder dominated Poland's Marta Domachowska 6-2, 6-2.
"I made few early errors and had a great start," said the Swiss winner. "She had to adjust to my game and didn't like it. My movement got better and better as the match went on."
Fourth seed Nadia Petrova overcame a ragged start before reigning in Italian Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 6-3 for a semi-final place
Petrova lost her first four matches against London-based Milanese Schiavine dating to 2001. But she has claimed the last two in straight sets including the 2006 final at Amelia Island in the US.
Petrova was reeling early on as Schiavone raced to 4-1. But the fourth stopped the rot during the lengthy first set.
"I had a poor start and I got mad at myself," said Petrova. "I wasn't giving the right fight out there, I realised that and started doing something about it.
"In the second set I felt more in charge and confident on serve. Overall, I'm happy with the performance."
Petrova, last month's Cincinnati champion, claimed her 31st win of the season and next faces Schnyder, winner of six of their 11 matches.
Hantuchova had to dig herself out of trouble against Chan, 59th in the world who lost easily to the Slovak a year ago.
Hantuchova earned a 4-0 lead then lost her way as the underdog went to the attack. The top seed managed to claim the opening set after 52 minutes and eight breaks of serve, winning it in a tiebreaker.
Chan, a Strasbourg semi-finalist, fought back to win the second set before Hantuchova took the contest by the throat for the narrow victory in two and a half hours. (dpa)
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