2011 Family Circle Cup: Elena Vesnina and Shuai Peng - Player Comparison
Elena Vesnina of Russia is ranked World Number 56 by the Women’s Tennis Association at the moment, and has been playing tennis in a professional capacity since 2002. She has spent nine years on tour, although a title on the WTA
circuit has so far eluded her. The 24-year-old pro currently lives in Sochi, Russia.
On the other side of the court, Shuai Peng is 25 years old and has been ranked World Number 30 by the WTA. She has been part of the pro circuit since 2001, and has spent almost eleven years as a professional tennis player. The
Chinese lives in Tian Jin, China. She has also been unable to win a WTA tour title so far, but has been having a remarkably successful run so far in 2011. She has won more main draw matches than any other female tennis player so far this year.
Vesnina’s best showing in 2011 so far has been at the current tournament at Charleston, the 2011 Family Circle Cup. The player has made it to the semi-finals of the event after defeating opponents Rebecca Marino, fourteenth seed
Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Grand Slam finalist Samantha Stosur and twelfth seed Julia Goerges of Germany. Prior to this, her best 2011 showing was at the Sony Ericsson Open.
Shuai Peng has, as mentioned before, won more main draw matches than anyone else on Tour so far. She has played in 28 matches so far, and has gone on to win 20 of them. The player made it to the semi-finals of her first tournament,
the ASB Classic Open, before being ousted by second seed Yanina Wickmayer. She also made an appearance in the Moorilla Hobart International semi-finals, as well as at the quarterfinals of the Pattaya Open, the Qatar Ladies Open and the Pacific Life Open.
Elena Vesnina has recorded career wins over players such as Yanina Wickmayer, Simona Halep, Samantha Stosur and Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Her appearance at the first Grand Slam of the year left something to be desired, as she was
defeated in the first round by French pro Virginie Razzano.
Peng, on the other hand, has defeated players such as Li Na, Elena Dementieva, Dinara Safina, Kim Clijsters, Amelie Mauresmo, Martina Hingis, Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic and Nadia Petrova over the course of her career. She
is definitely more able than her opponent, and posted great results at the Australian Open earlier this year. The Chinese pro ousted former World Number 1 Jelena Jankovic among other players on her way to the fourth roudnd, where Agnieszka Radwanska managed
to get the better of her.
The two players have a head-to-head record of 4-2 for Shuai Peng, and their semi-final clash will definitely be one of the most interesting matches of the tournament. Although Peng seems to have all the obvious advantages, Vesnina
is known to use the shock-and-awe manoeuvre to shattering success in pressure situations.
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