American teen Coco Vandeweghe upsets 9th-ranked Zvonareva in Carlsbad

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Vandeweghe rebounds, upsets Zvonareva in Carlsbad

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Local teenager Coco Vandeweghe upset Wimbledon finalist Vera Zvonareva, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 in a second-round match Thursday night in the Mercury Insurance Open.

Vandeweghe, ranked No. 205, rebounded from a terrible start to surprise Zvonareva, the world’s No. 9 ranked player.

The 18-year-old Vandeweghe, who grew up about 10 miles from the La Costa Resort where the tournament is being held, outplayed her Russian opponent in both the second and third sets for the biggest win of her short career.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

CARLSBAD, Calif. (AP) — Fifth-seeded Flavia Pennetta advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 7-6 (5) win over Russia’s Maria Kirilenko on Thursday at the Mercury Insurance Open.

Pennetta made two early breaks stand up to win the first set before she fell behind 5-2 in the second. Pennetta then reeled off four straight games to take a 6-5 lead and was serving for the match.

But the Italian dropped her serve at love to force the tiebreaker. Neither player led by more than two points in the tiebreaker when Kirilenko saved one match point at 6-4 before Pennetta closed out the second-round match.

“After the first set, I just relaxed a little bit,” Pennetta said. “She was making some mistakes at the end of the first set so I was thinking she was going to do the same. But she started to play better and more aggressive. I was a little too far from the line and I was running too much.”

Pennetta, who has beaten Kirilenko in their past three meetings, faces No. 2 seed Samantha Stosur of Australia in the next round.

“I have to rest now and be ready for running so much,” Pennetta said. “When she hits the ball it’s really powerful. My return is going to be really important.”

No. 3 seed Vera Zvonareva of Russia will face local teenager Coco Vandeweghe in a night match.

In other second-round matches, Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova defeated Zheng Jie of China 6-2, 6-1 and Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia eliminated Italy’s Sara Errani, 6-1, 5-7 (5), 7-5.