2011 French Open: Gisela Dulko upsets Tsvetana Pironkova to reach the third round
Argentine tennis star continued her marvellous run on the Women’s Tennis Association tour as she floored 32nd seed Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday to book a third round berth at 2011 Roland Garros in Paris. Pironkova looked very rusty throughout the battle and experienced her third “second round loss” at the Grand Slam tournament.
Being in terrific form over the last few months, Dulko played with confidence and required only one hour and 36 minutes to down her opponent. Although she made a slow start to the contest, she was able to find her form just at the right time. With a couple of serve breaks in the opening set, she was able to put herself in a very strong position in the match.
Pironkova looked out of sorts and struggled to time the ball. Her forehand and backhand shots landed far off the court on several occasions. Looking to gain some sort of momentum, Dulko tried to be more aggressive and successfully took control of long rallies. She sent a lovely backhand winner down the line to clinch the set 6-4.
Dulko’s strong baseline play allowed her to play her natural game freely in the second set as well. Although her first serve conversion was only a mere 48 per cent in the set, she was still able to claim 64 per cent of the points on her first serve. With her aggressive approach she pressurised the challenger at crucial situations during the set.
The Argentine earned seven out eight net points as she was brave enough to take the initiatives. Pironkova failed to take advantage of her opponent’s mistakes and paid the heavy price. She was reluctant to come close to the net and adopted a very negative strategy. A whopping 21 unforced errors in the match proved to very costly for the Bulgarian and eventually wore her out.
They say, “if a player is not raised on the clay surface, she will always encounter problems to find her touch on the surface.”
Being more skilful on the red clay surface, Dulko was able to clinch victory despite not being at her best. Making six doubles faults, the Argentine needed special performance in other areas of the game. She showed remarkable professionalism as she held on to her nerves to book a place in the third round of the prestigious tournament.
Ranked 51st in the world, Dulko has a decent record here at French Open. In 2006 she produced her best performance when she reached the fourth round. To yield similar or better results this time around, she must bring improvement in her serve as other top seed players may not allow her entry back into the match like Pironkova did.
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