2010 U.S. Open: Tweener number Two; Schiavone style
Upon coming across the word ‘tweener,’ the only professional that comes to mind, is the legendary Swiss man, Roger Federer. It was in fact, all about Roger as the sportsman stunned the audience with a tweener at the 2010 U.S. Open. Until, lo and behold, Italy’s Francesca Schiavone hit a tweener of her own.
Presently ranked no. 7 in the world, Francesca Schiavone broke out a tweener during her third round match against Ukraine’s Alona Bondarenko. Schiavone took the first set six games to one. As much as Bondarenko struggled, the athlete was incapable of keeping up with the Italian sportswoman.
Much to everyone’s surprise, just as the second set began, Alona bumped up her performance in the most major of ways. Bondarenko and Schiavone went nip and tuck until the Ukrainian professional broke her opponents serve.
Much into the second set of the match, Bondarenko led five games to four. Francesca was now serving one game down. After successfully scoring the first point, Schiavone served for the second point of the game.
As the sportswoman cracked a serve, Bondarenko played a shot that gave rise to the startling tweener Schiavone produced on the third shot of the rally. Francesca rushed to the rear end of the court, lifted her left leg up slightly high, and played a tweener between her legs.
Unlike Federer’s tweener, which his opponent failed to return, Alona played back the shot to Schiavone. The Italian sportswoman however, took the point based on the fifth winning shot of the rally. Francesca ecstatically jumped up in the air and clenched her fist to celebrate her shot.
Arguably, the ‘tweener’ is more of Federer’s signature shot. However, Francesca played a tweener in a completely different manner. The professional admitted to have played the shot ‘many times.’ She also stated that it is the instinct that decides to play the shot and that you feel great after having played it.
As the match proceeded, the two professionals remained evenly matched. Francesca leveled with Bondarenko as the score line read 5 games to 5. Keeping her serve, Alona took the sixth game of the set after which, Schiavone took the following game on her own serve.
It was however, the Italian sportswoman, who came out victorious after winning the tie-break seven games to five. Furthermore, Schiavone’s win put her through to the fourth round of the 2010 U.S. Open. The sportswoman will be made to face Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the following round.
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