Aleksandra Krunic, Kateryna Bondarenko through to the second round – Budapest Grand Prix 2011
Qualifier Aleksandra Krunic received an easy pass into the second round after her opponent Nina Bratchikova of Russia had to retire from the match 7-5, 1-0 in the opening round of 2011 Budapest Grand Prix in Hungary.
Krunic has shown in the qualification tournament that she can handle the pressure and play the big points really well. Looking for a place in the second round of the Women’s Tennis Association tournament, the Serbian started off
very brightly. She executed her powerful forehand and backhand winner to perfection right from the first game and created all sorts of problems for her rival with her strong baseline play.
Breaking the serve early in the opening set, she dented her opponent’s confidence levels and took a very healthy 3-1 lead. Bratchikova, who looked a bit out of sorts, regrouped herself and managed to break back to level the terms.
Krunic then had another chance of breaking the serve in eleventh game of the set. Dashing a great forehand winner down the line, she converted her second break chance to take a crucial 6-5 lead, serving for the set. Holding on
to her next service game with four successive points, she pocketed the opener.
The Serbian started the second set on a positive note as well as she clinched her first serve game with ease. However, Bratchikova, who looked in pain in the first set as well, decided to retire from the match at that stage after
consulting her trainer. The Russian was very disappointed with the result as she is more than capable of pulling off a victory from a set down.
Ranked 247th in the world, Krunic has been displaying some high quality tennis on the clay courts of Hungary for the last few days. And if she can continue her impressive form in her upcoming matches at the tournament,
she could cause some major upsets. She has a decent serve and she also has the game play to convert long rallies in her favour. Her opponent in the second round will be number three seed Klara Zakopalova who defeated Xinyun Han 6-0, 6-2.
Meanwhile, Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine eased past Katalin Marosi of Hungary 6-3, 6-4 in straight sets to book her place in the second round of the tournament.
Bondarenko has been in decent form since the year 2011 has started. Breaking the serve three times, she established complete control over the contest. Marosi lacked firepower in certain areas of the game and committed a large number
of unforced errors to let her rival score an easy victory. Bondarenko will be facing Olga Savchuk in the second round play of the WTA tournament.
Tags: