Auckland: Third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova squandered a three-game lead in the final set against China’s Peng Shuai and was bundled out of the Auckland Classic 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday.
After struggling to hold her first service game of the match, Kuznetsova settled and romped through the first set, looking like she would advance to the quarter-finals barely raising a sweat.
Peng, however, refused to buckle and got the vital break in the sixth game of the second set to send the tie to a decider.
Kuznetsova regained the momentum in the third, racing to a 3-0 lead, before Peng broke back and ground the 25-year-old Russian down, sealing the victory in two hours, 13 minutes with another break in the final game.
