Patty Schnyder out of Gaz.

TeamWTA pictures
By Etienne Stekelenburg
February 12 2004

Dinara Safina reached the next round at the Open Gaz de France in Paris by defeating Swiss Patty Schnyder. The third seed from Basel took the very first game of the match away from Safina and looked like she was due for a short time on court when she won the first set 6-4.

This meeting between both players was the second after Safina had won their first clash in Sopot 2002. The 17 year old from Moscow, Russia defeated Schnyder on her way to her first WTA title.

In the second set Patty Schnyder lost control over the match and let qualifier and 39 ranked Dinara Safina take a 5-2 lead. Marat’s younger sister took the set 6-3.

In the third set Schnyder didn’t only lose her grip on the match but also her temper, resulting in a warning by the umpire for throwing her racket. Before she could get a grip on herself she was trailing 5-1.

Safina was dominating the third set with passing shots and well placed returns. She used the first matchpoint to wrap up the match taking the victory 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.