Montreal: Kim Clijsters rallied from a set and a break down to beat American Bethanie Mattek-Sands 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Wednesday and advance to the third round of the Rogers Cup.
After dropping the first set, the fifth-seeded Clijsters was down 4-1 in the second and had to fight off two break points against the aggressive Mattek-Sands, a qualifer ranked 101st in the world.
Mattek-Sands continued to attack the net in the third and got a service break, only to give it back to the 27-year-old Clijsters, a two-time U.S. Open champion who is bidding for a second straight title after winning her 38th career tournament last week in Cincinnati.
Clijsters capped the match with a perfect passing shot and will next play Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, a 7-5, 6-2 winner over Sybille Bammer of Austria.
Second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki edged Patty Schnyder 7-5, 7-5 and will next play Flavia Pennetta of Italy, who defeated Russian Alisa Kleybanova 6-3, 6-3.
Seventh-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland defeated Vania King of the United States 6-0, 6-3 and fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva got past Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4.
Dinara Safina, the 2008 winner in Montreal, won an all-Russian match against Nadia Petrova 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. The former No. 1-ranked Safina is playing her fourth tournament since a lower back injury sidelined her in November.
"It's the first time in a long time I could play the three-set match against a top player and physically I could feel fine," Safina said. "This was a nice test for me, for my back, for everything."
Kimiko Date Krumm withdrew with a strained left quadriceps, allowing 17th-seeded Marion Bartoli of France to advance. Bartoli will play Czech qualifier Iveta Benesova on Thursday.
The Japanese veteran withdrew from the second-round match after reaching the main draw as the "lucky loser" from the qualifying tournament and defeating Monica Niculescu in the first round.
The 39-year-old Date Krumm returned in 2008 after a 12-year retirement, winning last year's Korea Open to become the second-oldest player after Billie Jean King to win an official event.
Wozniacki, a winner two weeks ago in her hometown of Copenhagen, passed Jelena Jankovic this week for the No. 2 spot in the rankings.
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