Agnes Szavay crushes Johanna Larsson in the opening round of the Andalucia Tennis Experience
World number 44 Agnes Szavay of Hungary had an emphatic win over the 77thranked Swede, Johanna Larsson in the first round of the Andalucia Tennis Experience at Marbella, Spain on Tuesday. She dispensed her opponent in the most assertive manner, winding up the match in straight sets at 6-1, 6-1, in less than an hour.
It was the third victory for the 22-year-old Hungarian in the current WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) season at Marbella. Szavay kept her 100 per cent record against Larsson, defeating her for the third consecutive time in her career and making the head-to-head series 3-0. The Swede posed no real challenge to Szavay and gave her easy pass to the second round of the $220,000 WTA tournament.
A brilliant display of sheer dominance and pure class form Szavay was witnessed throughout the contest, giving no chance to her opponent. She served with 73 percent accuracy and collected 26 of 37 total serve points in the game en route to victory. The 22-year-old took the reins of the match right from the start and orchestrated most of the rallies in the game to overwhelm Larsson in just 57 minutes of play.
The contest proved an error-ridden one for the Swede, who committed plenty of mistakes, including five expensive double faults in the game. Larsson’s bleak serve ranged just 59 percent accuracy and she merely nabbed 19 of 49 serve points in the matchup. She successfully converted the only break chance she received from her miser opponent in the second set but dropped her serve six times to submit the match to Szavay.
A blistering start from the 44th ranked Hungarian was seen, attacking Larson with her forceful forehand winners. She exploited the wide open spaces in the opponent’s courts with great mastery, breaching the defence of the Swede on numerous occasions. Szavay broke her opponent’s serve in the fourth game to lead 4-1 in the opener and kept pressurising Larsson to concede more unforced errors.
Szavay broke for the second time in the sixth game and was left to serve for the set at 5-1. The Hungarian served out of the opener comprehensively at 6-1 to take the upper hand in the game. She kept her winning momentum in the next set as well and broke early to lead 2-0. Larsson finally registered her first serve break of the match to cut the deficit to 1-3. The Hungarian accelerated her game, breaking Larsson in the every serve game which followed and rocketed to a victory at 6-1.
She will be facing the second seed wildcard entrant, Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in the second round of the Andalucia Tennis Experience. Kuznetsova edged passed the German qualifier, Mona Barthel in the opening round at Marbella in an exciting three-set matchup, 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4.
Tags: