Anabel Medina Garrigues disposes of Elena Vesnina in the second round – New Haven Open 2011
Unseeded in the tournament, the world number 43, Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain, took down the 32nd ranked Russian contestant, Elena Vesnina, in the second round of New Haven Open at Yale on Wednesday afternoon.
Being a part of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Series, the tournament was staged on the hard courts of the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Garrigues went through some tough time
in the second set before closing out victory in straight sets 6-2, 7-6(5), taking two hours and thirteen minutes of play to make a berth in the quarter-final round of the tournament.
It is the second time in the current year that Vesnina has suffered a defeat at the hands of Garrigues, as the Spaniard also stood victorious against her in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, in the round of 32 at Miami. Garrigues’ victory
at New Haven Open at Yale extended her overall lead over the Russian by 4-2 and sent her to the round of eight of the tournament.
The 32nd ranked Spaniard had no real trouble in hunting down Vesnina in the opener but went through some tight moments in the second set, with the Russian opponent trying to break the shackles. Garrigues was leading
the second set 4-2 when she dropped serve and then frittered away three match points at 6-5 to drag the set into the tie breaker round.
“I injured my knee eight years ago and today when I was changing direction after my serve I could feel something there,” the 29-year-old Spaniard told in her post match reviews. “It was a little painful at that moment, but then
it was okay. Right now I don’t really know what I have - I don’t know if it’s good, bad or nothing important. I’ll check with the physios here.”
Garrigues converted six out of her 11 break opportunities en route to victory, while the Russian contestant cashed in four out of 10 break points to finish on the losing end. Vesnina gathered up some pace in the second set to enforce
a tie breaker round but crumbled under pressure to bestow victory to her aggressive opponent.
Garrigues will take on the world number eight, Francesca Schiavone of Italy, in the next matchup for a semi-final berth at New Haven. The third seed Italian was successful against Monica Niculescu of Romania in the second round
to book a date with Garrigues in the round of eight.
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