By Neil Schmidt
Enquirer staff writer

MASON - It was the day's most awkward matchup, and that was before the controversial call that seemingly decided it.

Seventh seed Flavia Pennetta defeated fellow Italian Rita Grande, her friend and doubles partner, 6-7 (1), 6-2, 6-4 Thursday in the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open. Grande was undone by a call that went against her.

Grande had broken Pennetta to get to 4-4 in the third set. Grande was serving at 40-30 when Pennetta hit a shot that appeared to float wide. There was no call, and when Grande lost the point, she looked incredulously at chair umpire Sandy French, asking for an overrule.

She didn't get it. Grande lost her serve and soon had lost seven consecutive points. She sat outside on a bench for nearly 30 minutes afterward, digesting the defeat.

"The umpire can make a mistake," Grande said. "But that was not even close. ... It was bad luck."

Said Pennetta: "I think the ball was out. My coach said I was lucky."

Hours later, Grande and Pennetta had to play doubles. They retired from their match against Emmanuelle Gagliardi and Anna-Lena Groenefeld after losing the first set 6-2.

"It was very hard for me today, playing my friend," Pennetta said of her singles match.

GRANVILLE COOKING: Back on her favorite surface, Laura Granville is back to form.

The Chicago native was crisp in windy conditions Thursday, totaling just eight unforced errors in her 6-1, 6-1 rout of fifth-seeded Denisa Chladkova.

Counting her run to the Vancouver finals last week, Granville has won six of her last seven matches. That followed a slump in which she lost 11 of 12 matches during the clay and grass seasons.

"I love these (hard-court) tournaments," Granville said. "I was raised on fast, hard courts. This (surface) is pretty fast, and that fits my game."

What irks Granville is that she has reached the fourth round at Wimbledon and third round at the French and Australian opens, yet failed to advance past the second round in five U.S. Open appearances.

"It's a great tournament for Americans, but there's a lot of pressure for us, too," Granville said of the Open. "I'll have to be focused this time."

STRONG SALES: Attendance for this inaugural event has been excellent for a Tier III tournament.

Entering Thursday, the total of all tickets sold for the week - including advance sales for the weekend - was just more than 49,000. That exceeds the 47,675 sold during the last women's event here, the 1988 Pringles Light Classic.

A current comparison? The attendance four weeks ago for the Tier II Carson, Calif., tourney was 50,064 - and that was a record for that 34-year-old event.

TV INFO: The Tennis Channel will begin airing matches Saturday; all will be on tape delay.

Three of today's quarterfinals will air from 6 a.m.-noon Saturday. The two Saturday semifinals will air from 6-10 a.m. Sunday. The Sunday singles and doubles finals will air from 7-11 p.m. Monday.

The Tennis Channel is available on Time Warner digital cable (Channel 170).