Sydney: Former U.S. Open champions Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina and Samantha Stosur of Australia rallied to win their second-round matches against tough French opponents Wednesday at Australian Open warm-up tournaments.
Del Potro beat Nicolas Mahut 1-6, 6-3 6-4 at the Sydney International, while Stosur saved two match points and eked out a 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7) win over Kristina Mladenovic at the Hobart International.
Stosur lost all three of her singles matches at the Hopman Cup team exhibition event last week and is looking for some confidence heading into her home Grand Slam at Melbourne Park, where she's never advanced past the fourth round.
The Australian Open begins Monday.
Earlier, former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova advanced to the semifinals of the women's event in Sydney with a 7-6 (4), 6-2 victory over Lucie Safarova. Kvitova, the second seed, will play Tsvetana Pironkova in the semifinals after the Bulgarian's 7-6 (2), 6-3 win over Sara Errani.
