In her second clay court tournament this season Patty Schnyder defeated the qualifier Meilen Tu from the US 6-4 7-5 and advancend to the third round at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston. After a first round bye the number 3 seed Swiss had more trouble as expected to beat the American who is the number 134 in the ranking.
Patty hit six aces and broke her opponent six times but especially in the second set it was hard work for the Swiss. The world number 9 was broken three times by the  California located Meilen Tu but everytime the Swiss was able to fight back. After a late break against her opponent Schnyder finished the 90 minutes lasted match. “I was not very happy with the way I played, but I got through,” said the Swiss after the match. “I’m really struggling a bit because normally here I just could place the ball anywhere I wanted and really not miss too many. So I definitely want to get that feeling back.”
In the third round Patty will face Jill Craybas from the US or Italy’s Mara Santangelo. In case she will meet Craybas, Patty should be warned. The American upset the world number 2 Kim Clijsters two weeks ago in Miami.
The Family Circle Cup is one of Pattys favourite tournaments. She is playing for the 10th consecutive time in Charleston and in Hilton Head, which was the former location of this tournament. In 2002 she was runner up to Croatia’s Iva Majoli and in the last two years she reached the semifinals.