Alberta Brianti pounces over Lesia Tsurenko to reach quarters – Budapest Grand Prix 2012
Italian veteran, Alberta Brianti, rallied past Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko in a three set thriller at the Budapest Grand Prix 2012 on Wednesday. She summed up a 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 victory against the world number 110 to charge into the last eight at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International-level tournament taking place in Hungary.
Brianti got the better of the Ukrainian youngster after dominating the three hours-long marathon in their first meeting. As a result, she not only stayed on track to conquer her second WTA career title but also took lead in the head-to-head series by 1-0 against the 22-year-old.
The Kiev resident, Tsurenko, exchanged three serve breaks to level the opening set at 5-5. She then remained focused and capitalised her fourth break opportunity in the last game, subsequently sealing the opener by winning seven games to five.
104th ranked Brianti carried her losing ways in the proceeding set and suffered the first blow in the second game to fall at 0-2. However, she not only recovered but after exchanging another serve break, the Italian tied the scores at 5-5. The veteran brought her experience into handy after that and cashed in her third break opportunity in the end to pull out the equaliser with a 7-5 score line.
Brianti kept her spark lit in the final set and earned the coveted break in the opening game to take the upper hand. Despite losing her serve in the very next game, the Italian broke her rival’s serve again in the fifth game and consequently bagged the decider with a 6-4 win.
Overall, Brianti brushed off 19 out of 27 breakpoints she came across and cashed in nine out of 20 break opportunities to earn the limelight. The Italian spilled more double faults but clicked the match with 129 points to prevail.
Up next for Brianti is her top seeded compatriot, Sara Errani, who battled past Melinda Czink in a see-saw match to set-up this duel.
The second seed, Ksenia Pervak of Kazakhstan, became the casualty of the day. She was underplayed by Russia’s Elena Vesnina in straight sets in almost one and half hour-long marathon.
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