2011 Sony Ericsson Open WTA Part 14: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Nadia Petrova
World Number 21 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Russian tennis pro Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is currently ranked World Number 21, and has been playing as a professional player since 2005. She has spent over half a decade on the Women’s Tennis Association tour and has won a total
of three career titles so far. Her highest career ranking is World Number 14.
The right-handed player is 19 years old, and made her Miami debut just two years ago in 2007. She was ranked World Number 27 at the time, but was not seeded at the tournament. The Russian pro faced French player Aravane Rezai in
the first round, and went on to the second round only to be defeated at the hands of eleventh seed Victoria Azarenka.
She performed much better at the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open, where she was seeded twenty-second. The player received a bye in the first round of the tournament, and began her campaign in the second round against Tamira Paszek of Austria.
She won her first match and went on to defeat fifteenth seed Francesca Schiavone in the third round, before falling to Danish pro Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round.
This year, Pavlyuchenkova has made it to the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open again. She is seeded seventeenth at the tournament, and has defeated players Agnes Szavay and twelfth seed Petra Kvitova so far. She will be playing
against Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round.
World Number 22 Nadia Petrova
Nadia Petrova hails from Russia, and is World Number 22 on the Women’s Tennis Association rankings. Her highest career ranking to date is World Number 3. The right-handed pro has been part of the WTA since 1999, and has on a total
of nine WTA career titles over the course of her professional career.
Her first main draw at the Miami tournament was in 2000, one year after she turned pro. The player was ranked World Number 75 at the time, and took on Spanish pro Magui Serna, eighth seed Julie Halard-Decugis, compatriot Anastasia
Myskina and twenty-fifth seed Sabine Appelmans in the first four rounds to reach the quarterfinal against second seed Lindsay Davenport. She was ousted by the American pro in straight sets.
The player improved upon her performance in 2004, when she participated in the event as the eighth seed. Petrova defeated players Maria Kirilenko, thirty-second seed Emilie Loit, Australian pro Alicia Molik and Nathalie Dechy of
France to reach the semi-final against compatriot Elena Dementieva. Dementieva was seeded fifth and defeated her in straight sets.
This year, Petrova was seeded eighteenth at the tournament and received a bye into the second round against Sabine Lisicki. She won the first set, but was forced to retire halfway through the third one.
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