Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeats Mona Barthel to sail into the third round – French Open 2011
Rising tennis star Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia survived a late onslaught against Brit Mona Barthel 6-0, 7-6(5) to book a place in the third round of prestigious 2011 French Open tournament. The Russian looked on song early in the match but faced a tough challenge in the second set. She was finally able to overcome her opponent in the tie-breaker after clinching four straight points.
Pavlyuchenkova looked in complete control of the contest as the match started. She played some cracking shots in the opener and made her opponent think hard about finding a way to win any points against her.She held on to her first serve game very easily and broke the serve early in the set to dent Barthel’s confidence levels.
Looking in hurry to wrap up the set, the Russian displayed some high quality tennis and broke the serve at regular intervals. She pocketed the set with a great drop shot that completely confused the challenger. The Russian dominated the first set and did not drop a single game as she drew the first blood.
Although Pavlyuchenkova’s first serve conversion was only a mere 48 per cent in the set, she was able to take control of the rallies with her big forehand and backhand shots. Built strongly, the Russian had not troubles returning the serve as she claimed 67 per cent of the points while on the receiving end.
Set in a commanding position in the match, the Russian was expecting to take the second set comfortably as well but Barthel showed amazing fighting ability as she broke back three times to force the set into the tie-breaker. However she was unable to control her nerves there and gave away free points to Pavlyuchenkova to let her complete the win in straight sets.
Born in Moscow, the 19-year-old Pavlyuchenkova has given significant performances on the Women’s Tennis Association tour since she turned professional in 2005 rising to world number 14 in the WTA rankings. Coming to the running season, she started the year with a semi-final appearance at Brisbane International. At the Australian Open she reached the third round to make her top 15 debut. She then lifted her third WTA title at Monterrey Open defeating Jelena Jankovic in the finals.
However, in the last couple of months she has struggled to find her peak form and experienced a few early round losses. Winner of three WTA titles, Pavlyuchenkova will be hoping for her first Grand Slam triumph here in Paris.
Her next round opponent will be Spanish Nuria Llagostera Vives who thrashed out Alize Cornet 6-0, 6-2 to reach that far at the Majors tournament.
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