Anabel Medina Garrigues downs Sara Errani to reach the semi-finals – Budapest Grand Prix 2011
Fifth seeded Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues lead 4-6, 7-5, 3-0 when second seeded Italian, Sara Errani was forced to retire due to severe pain in the quarterfinal match at the POLI-FARBE Grand Prix, a clay court tournament held
in Budapest, Hungary on Friday. After earning this retirement victory, the Spaniard secured a last four spot in this event.
Ranked 43rd in the Sony Ericson WTA Premier rankings, Garrigues was leading 3-0 in the final set when she earned the retirement victory against Italian, ranked eight places above her, in almost three hours on their fifth
meeting. She not only took revenge for her loss at Marbella last year but also lowered the trail in the head-to-head series by 2-3.
24-year-old Italian made a convincing start in the opening set as she exchanged an early break and then broke the lower seed’s serve again in the end to bag the opener with a 6-4 win. She produced a higher first serve share of
74 percent as compared to Garrigues’ 67 percent and registered an impressive 65 percent win on it. In addition to this, Errani saved three out of four breakpoints faced and converted two out of seven breakpoint chances to her advantage.
The Valencia native, Garrigues raised the bar of her game in the second set as she exchanged three breaks and gave tough time to the higher ranked Italian. The Spaniard then broke the Italian’s serve again for the fourth time in
the end to seal the equaliser by winning seven games to five. Regardless of clobbering a lower first serve share of 68 percent as opposed to Italian’s 80 percent, she earned a plausible 54 percent win on it.
28-year-old unleashed flurry of groundstrokes in the final set and reeled off first three games in a row before Errani felt severe pain and was forced to retire. The Spaniard produced an equal first serve share of 75 percent but
registered a perfect win on it. To put the cherry on the set, she faced zero breakpoint and converted one out of two breakpoint opportunities to her advantage.
Up next for the Spaniard is the winner of the match between her compatriot qualifier, Estrella Cabeza Candela and seventh seeded Romanian Irina Camelia Begu.
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