Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova tumbles over the injury-stricken Polona Hercog – Brisbane WTA 2012
Seventh seed, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, was leading 6-1, 4-1 when the Slovene, Polona Hercog, was forced to retire at the Brisbane International 2012, a WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International event taking place on the hard
courts in Brisbane, Australia, on Monday. The Russian automatically advanced into the second round of the event as a result of Hercog’s withdrawal.
The 20-year-old Russian stayed on course to capture silverware in the first WTA tournament of 2012. She showed exceptional skills and dominated throughout the match. However, the Slovene got injured and was forced to retire after
55 minutes from the start of the match; Pavlyuchenkova on the other hand secured a spot in the round of sixteen.
World number 16, Pavlyuchenkova, made a nervy entry in the opening set and lost her serve in the first game. However, the Russian made a fitting reply as she went on a six games killing spree and pocketed a breadstick in almost
half an hour. The rising star committed three double faults but formulated a better first serve share of 64 percent in contrast with the Slovene’s 33 percent. She dusted away one out of two breakpoints she came across but cashed in all three break chances
to her advantage.
Hercog re-focused her strategy in the second set and succeeded in keeping her serve in the opening game. However, she got off-road again and lost following four straight games before feeling severe pain.
Pavlyuchenkova dominated the second set as well. She manifested a lower first serve share but registered a perfect win on it. The Russian also faced no breakpoint and converted two out of five break opportunities to her advantage.
Next up for the seventh seed is the winner of the match between Estonian Kaia Kanepi and Russian qualifier, Alexandra Panova.
Third seeded Italian, Francesca Schiavone, will be waiting the Russian in the second round. She also earned a 4-4 retirement victory over the Kazakh Xeniya Pervak to reach this spot. The Kazakh was forced to retire due to migraine.
"If you look at me, I'm not so old," the Italian joked. "I mean I can run faster than others run, and I think we are the good generation, me, Serena and Venus. Maybe Kim is '83 but she has a lot of experience too. We have to use
all of that experience and use our weapons to beat the younger players today."
The Italian number one will square off against the Kazakh Galina Voskoboeva, who swallowed past Russian qualifier, Vera Dushevina, with double breadsticks.
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