Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova outplays Elena Vesnina in the quarter-final –Portugal Open 2013
Third seeded Russian youngster, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, had to dig deep before overcoming her seventh seeded fellow compatriot, Elena Vesnina, in the quarter-final brawl of Portugal Open on Thursday. The two Russians battled
for two hours and 45 minutes before Pavlyuchenkova wrapped up the three-setter at 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-6(3), to reach the round of four at this clay-court tournament in Oeiras, Portugal.
It was Pavlyuchenkova’s third consecutive victory against the fellow Russian, as she extended to 3-0 in the all-time head-to-head series. The world number 19 disposed of Vesnina to take the 2010 Istanbul title and she had to struggle
equally hard on Thursday to repeat that outcome. The third seed Russian took the opener comprehensively but Vesnina’s strong comeback in the following set stunned every one. However, it was Pavlyuchenkova who stood tall in the intense pressure situations in
the end and came out victorious.
"There was a bit of drama in that match but I think it was a really good quality match from both of us," Pavlyuchenkova said after the match. "I started really well - for a set and a half it was really good - but then Elena was
fighting for every point and played amazingly, so credit to her. It was a really tough one and I'm really happy I managed to pull through in the end because I was down in the third set. We play in the Fed Cup team together and hit all the time, so mentally
it was difficult."
Pavlyuchenkova broke her opponent early in the opening set to impose a 4-1 lead. Vesnina couldn’t recover from such sudden blow and had to submit the first set at 3-6. However, she went neck-to-neck against the third seed in the
following set and dragged the game into a tie-break. She gained two mini-breaks and sealed the second set at 7-6(3).
More intense tennis was witnessed in the decisive set, with both players registering two break points apiece to enter another tie-break round. It was Pavlyuchenkova who returned the favour with two mini-breaks and concluded her
victory at 7-6(3) to gain access to the semi-final round of the tournament.
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