Alexandra Panova reaches the last eight at Tashkent Open – Tennis News
World number 89, Alexandra Panova, registered her place in the quarter-finals of the Tashkent Open on Wednesday after beating the 122nd ranked Japanese, Misaki Doi. She devised a plan against her and executed it to perfection;
smashed a dashing score line of 6-4, 6-4; ending the encounter an hour 33 minutes.
Panova commented about her rival and the overall performance, “Misaki is good player, but I played as planned, to serve well, play fast and not give her time to settle. This is the first year that I have been in main draws of all
the Grand Slams. I need to take one bigger step to move into the Top 50. I know I have to work very hard to achieve that.”
She further added, “I feel comfortable here. I like the food, atmosphere and the people. The organizational level of the event is of high quality too. I will be back here until I win the title and probably even after that."
Panova bagged 72% of the first serves and 61% of the second. She converted half of her allotted six breakpoints and saved seven of them to hold her opponent from taking control of the situation. She pocketed 70 points from the
total of 126 total played that included seven blistering quick aces. It was a very compact performance from the Russian superstar who will face a very tough competition in the quarter-final of the tournament.
Up next for the 23-year-old Russian blonde is the Pole superstar, Urszula Radwanska, who is the highest seed alive in the tournament. Monica Niculescu was the top seed in the tournament but she lost the first round match at the
hands of an underdog so that left the younger sister of Agnieszka Radwanska as the highest seed active in the event; most probable player to win the allotted 250 points and the maiden title of the season.
Panova will have to unleash a whole new plan against the 21-year-old Pole who will not hold back at any stage having improved her ranking by a severe margin in the current season. Radwanska is looking to break amongst the Top-30’s
in the world by the end of this tour and that can only be achieved by her close finishing either as runners up or the champion. So, the Russian will have to break the momentum of the confident Pole player who is eyeing an emphatic finish to the tour of Uzbekistan.
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