Kuznetsova survives scare to advance in Melbourne

By Simon Cambers

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova pulled her game together just in time at the Australian Open on Thursday, edging to a 7-6 6-2 win over Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria in the second round.

Pironkova, ranked 92 places behind her opponent at 94th in the world, had a set point in the ninth game but the Russian hit back to clinch a place in the last 32.

With world number two Kuznetsova making a host of unforced errors, Pironkova raced into a 5-2 lead and forced a set point on her own serve at 5-3.

But Kuznetsova found her form to win the tiebreak 7-0 and eased through the second set to line up a clash with either Polish 29th seed Agnieszka Radwanska or Pauline Parmentier of France.

(Editing by Ed Osmond)