Alisa Kleybanova crushes Jing-Jing Lu in the first round of the Malaysian Open
Third seed Alisa Kleybanova despatched her Chinese opponent Jing-Jing Lu in the first round encounter at the BMW Malaysian Open on Tuesday.
The Russian completely blew away unseeded Lu in straight sets 6-1,6-1 taking 75 minutes of match play. Kleybanova was far better than her opponent in most segments of the game and cashed in her opportunities at the right time.
The serve percentage was the only aspect of the match where Kleybanova fell behind Lu. The Chinese had a healthy percentage of 71 while the Russian winner lagged behind with 58 percent. However, Kleybanova’s point conversion ratio
was the critical factor in her success; she won a total of 34 of 52 serve points and 56 per cent of the return points.
The Chinese woman got her opportunities in the match but she failed to take advantage of them most of the times. She was bestowed with five break chances by her opponent but she squandered them all. The 21-year-old Russian converted
five out of 13 break points to win the contest.
Kleybanova came out firing in the opening set and cracked in a series of serve breaks. Lu merely held her serve in one game and was broken in the remaining three serve games. She had no answer to the Russian’s elegant cross-court winners
whose attacking moves included frequent forays to the net.
Lu had three break points but she was too bleak to convert them. The Chinese just won 11 of the 31 return points, showing her inefficiency to read her opponent’s strokes. She eventually submitted the first set to Kleybanova at 6-1.
The following set was a complete replication of the first one except Kleybanova frittering away more serve break points. She converted just three out of 11 break opportunities and saved the two she faced from the opposition.
The Russian again broke Lu’s serve three times in the second to finish off the contest at 6-1. She won 40 out of 68 total points in the second set.
Kleybanova will be facing off Michaella Krajicek in the second round. Krajicek ousted the German Tatjana Malek in straight sets, 6-3,6-2.
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