Patty Schnyder defeats Maggie Maleeva 1-6,6-1,6-4.

Photo: TeamWTA
By Etienne Stekelenburg
October 19 2004

Swiss Patty Schnyder defeated Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria in three sets 1-6, 6-1, 6-4.Both players are previous Swisscom Challenge title holders. Maleeva won the title in 1994 and Schnyder won her home tournament in 2002 defeating Lindsay Davenport in three sets in the final.

Magdalena Maleeva is still leading the head-to-head against Patty Schnyder with 3-1 after tonight. All of their meetings have been three-set-matches; this was the first one on hard court.

Maleeva took the first set 6-1, she forced Schnyder into 8 forced and 11 unforced errors. The Bulgarian scored more points on her service, 18 against 6 for Schnyder.

In the second set Schnyder was coming towards the net more often, that was the key to success in the second set. The Swiss now took the second set 6-1. Her serves were getting better as well, now scoring 20 points on her service. In the second set Maleeva’s forced and unforced errors were going up, she had only 6 unforced errors in the first set, in the second she made 18 unforced errors.

After 1 all in sets the players were more equal to each other in the third set. Patty Schnyder just won 5 points more than her opponent, 33 for the Swiss and 28 for the Bulgarian. Schnyder started to serve better than in first set but both players scored 18 point with their service. The Swiss scored 5 points more in returns, they turned out to be match winners.

Schnyder won the third set 6-4 and the match and will be playing Fabiola Zuluaga in the next round.

“The public supported me, sometimes helps when the audience supports you to win a third set. I played good in the second set I was playing more up front. It's always difficult to play three sets, against Mauresmo I also played good in three sets but just lost it. Now I am feeling very relaxed,” Schnyder said after the match.