PATTAYA, Thailand (AP) Maria Kirilenko of Russia squandered three match points in losing to Kazakh qualifier Galina Voskoboeva 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 Wednesday in the second round of the Pattaya Open.
Peng Shuai of China defeated Elena Baltacha of Britain 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, marking the third time in five years Peng made it into at least the quarterfinals in Pattaya.
She will face the winner between top-seeded Vera Zvonareva and Nungnadda Wannasuk of Thailand.
Kirilenko led 6-1, 5-2 and served for the match at 5-4, 40-0. She built a 3-1 lead in the third set and failed again to capitalize.
It was the second early exit from Pattaya for Kirilenko, who as the second seed in 2007 was knocked out in the first round.
I wasn't in the match at all until I was down 3-0 in the second set,'' Voskoboeva said.But I started to play better. When you are down match point at 4-5, 0-40 , you need luck as well. But I didn't think about that. I just played point by point.''