Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova still upbeat about French Open
Anatasia Pavlyuichenkova must be having a good year; after all, she has just won her first WTA Singles title in the Monterrey Open in Mexico. Despite it not being a clay-court tournament, a win is a win and it will help Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova increase her chances in the upcoming French Open, not to mention the self-confidence boost it will give a young player like her.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is just a mere 18 years old and has won the title against Daniela Hantuchova’ she has beaten Hantuchova before, earlier in the year in Dubai. Hantuchova’s fourth title conquest was ended by the young player’s hopes for her first ever WTA title.
With her youth, and inexperience (compared to Hantuchova), one may expect to see Pavlychenkova play more safe shots rather than throw risky shots; however, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, did the exact opposite. She would do what a player that has been playing for years would do; she served aces and took some risky shots. For the most part, it paid off, but naturally, some of her shots faulted causing her to lose several opportunities.
In preparation for the upcoming French Open, Anastasia is joining several clay-court tournaments to get her into her groove. Her first tournament is the Italian Open which was held in Rome. Unfortunately, she lost to the hometown favorite Alberta Brianti, 6-4, 7-6. Her match lasted a little less than an hour.
The match was very even. During the first set, both players held their serves. It was only until the fifth game did Brianti break her serve giving Anastasia an opportunity to steal a score. Anastasia answered back by evening up the score at 4-4. In the next game, the hometown favorite pressured Anastasia which caused her to lose her serve. By the time the set score was at 5-4, Brianti had enough composure to win the match for herself.
In the second set, Anastasia and Brianti exchanged four breaks of serve each before the Italian closed out the match by winning the tie-break at 7-5 and eventually winning the whole match. Anastasia has met Brianti for a total of three matches, all of which she has lost.
Her clay-court season has turned around a bit for Anastasia as she did fare better in the Mutua Madridlena Madrid open. She was up against Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova and won against her, 6-4, 7-6. Anastasia has meet Daniela in four separate occasions and leads their head to head record 3-1. In the second round of the tournament, Anastasia, unfortunately lost to Russia’s Nadia Petrova.
She lost the match to the Russian, 6-2, 7-5. The world number 18 took the first set after stealing two breaks of serve. In the next set, Petrova earned yet another break, but not before Anastasia came back to tie the set at 5-5. By the end of the match Petrova stole another break to win the whole match.
Pavlyuchenkova can be classified to other teen tennis players, who are just enjoying the stints they have in top-notch competitions. Tennis followers think the 18-year-old Pavlyuchenkova is a star in the making and just needs a little more training and exposure before conquering the tennis world.
Obviously, Anastasia’s main purpose in joining the two tournaments was to be able to prepare for the French Open. Based on her past clay-court tournament performances, she is predicted to last until the second round of the competition. With players like Justine Henin and Ana Ivanovic gunning for the title, it is unlikely that she will be able to perform well enough to reach the quarters of the tournament.
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