Anabel Medina Garrigues vs Francesca Schiavone – Quarterfinal Preview: New Haven Open 2011
Spanish tennis pro Anabel Medina Garrigues will be taking on world number eight Francesca Schiavone on Friday in the quarterfinal of 2011 New Haven Open here in New Haven, United States.
Garrigues has been in decent form since the year 2011 has started. Following her consistent, performances, she rose to world number 32 in Women’s Tennis Association rankings. In her opening match at the tournament, Garrigues thrashed
out Ksenia Pervak in straight sets. She then crushed Elena Vesnina in the second round on Tuesday.
Having an impressive 4-0 record against the Italian, Garrigues will be entering the contest as the favourite. However she must recover from knee injury rapidly if she wants to stand a chance against someone as competitive as Francesca
Schiavone.
During her match against Vesnina, Garrigues suffered a knee injury and she looked in quite a bit if pain. When asked about the seriousness of her injury, she replied, "I don't know what I have," said Medina Garrigues, who planned
to seek medical treatment later in the evening. "It's a little painful. I have injured it before. Eight years ago, I injured my knee. ¦ After visiting with the (medical staff), we will see."
Commenting on her incredible record against Schiavone, she further added, "I like to play Schiavone. Her style is more Spanish than mine is Italian. When we have time and the ball comes high, we can really take our time and hit
it well. For sure the Schiavone I will play now is not the same Schiavone I played the other times, though - the other times she had a different mentality. Now she is so mentally strong and more powerful physically. It will be very tough."
Schiavone made it to the last eight with a superb 6-2, 6-1victory over Moncia Niculescu. Earlier in the first round play, she made quick work of Alexandra Dulgheru. Looking in commanding form, the Italian will be the one to beat
if she can overcome the challenge in front of her in her next-match at the tournament.
She will be aware of the fact that she has not done very well against Garrigues throughout her career. But if she can get over it and play her natural game freely, she stands a pretty good chance of emerging victorious from this
encounter.
In pair’s last meeting on the WTA tour at 2008 Wimbledon Championships, Garrigues defeated Schiavone in a three set thriller. However, Schiavone is much better player now than she a couple of years back. If she can play her A-game
consistently, she could improve her head to head record against Garrigues to 1-4.
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