Shahar slinks out of Brisbane in 2nd round

After taking a promising lead, Pe’er completely lost her way in the second set and failed to force a tiebreaker in a tight third set.

By ALLON SINAI
shahar peer_311 (photo credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
shahar peer_311
(photo credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Shahar Pe’er’s stay in Brisbane, Australia, ended earlier than expected on Tuesday.
The world No. 13, seeded second at the Brisbane International, dropped to a 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 defeat to Lucie Safarova (33) in the second round of the singles event before also being knocked out in the first round of the doubles tournament later in the day.
After taking a promising lead, Pe’er completely lost her way in the second set and failed to force a tiebreaker in a tight third set, being broken in the 12th game.
“Shahar is a fighter and the match was very long,” said Safarova, who has now beaten Pe’er in their last two meetings.
“In the end, it could’ve gone either way. I’m very happy to win this match. It’s nice to perform so well right before the Australian Open. I worked very hard in the offseason and I’m happy to play these kinds of matches right now.”
Later in the day, Pe’er and Arantx Parra Santonja lost 6- 2, 5-7, 11-9 to Monica Niculesco and Zi Yan in the first round of the doubles tournament.
Pe’er will now make her way to Sydney where she will play next week in her final tune-up event ahead of the year’s first Grand Slam in Melbourne, which begins January 17.
In other action, French Open finalist Sam Stosur was also upset in Brisbane on Tuesday, losing in straight sets to fellow Australian Jarmila Groth. Groth won 6- 2, 6-4, breaking top-seeded Stosur’s serve four times and saving three of the four break points she faced in the 1-hour, 18-minute match.
Stosur was on course to force a third set after racing to a 4-1 lead in the second set, but struggled with her serve as Groth reeled off five straight games to clinch a place in the quarterfinals.
AP contributed to this report.