Anastasia Pivovarova loses to Klara Zakopalova in the first round – XXIV SNAI Open 2011
In a lopsided XXIV SNAI Open 2011, Klara Zakopalova's superior court craft eventually prevailed as she took out Russian Anastasia Pivovarova 0-6, 6-1, 6-1 in the first round of tournament, being played here at Palermo, Italy.
The world number 36 suffered an unexpected trouncing in the first set, with the Russian striking the ball cleanly and mixing some pompous forehands with all-court aggression to take the first set with a bagel win.
But the candy-coated hitting could not last long and, in the second set, Zakopalova began to assert herself by breaking in the first game after a marathon rally. Although Pivovarova broke right back, Zakopalova returned the compliment
for 2-1.
The Czech's game then moved from haziness to brightness, and suddenly she was returning the Russian's wide drives with interest and out powering the world number 120 from the backcourt.
Pivovarova, who is one of the best returners on tour, started to dither and hesitate, and the Czech battered her way towards the second set, repeatedly taking out her opponent like a sniper.
As the third set unfolded, Zakopalova began to dominate, standing pretty well inside the baseline and replying back to Pivovarova’s idiosyncratic shots with ease.
Although Zakopalova’s game happened to stall when Pivovarova snatched her first game, the Czech remained composed and closed out the match with much ease.
Awaiting her in the second round of the tournament is the Croat qualifier, Ani Mijacika, who edged past Eleni Daniilidou of Greece to make it this far.
The Czech still needs to iron out the kinks in her game if she desires any success in the forthcoming matches at the tournament.
Also, Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino’s quest for a maiden title here at Palermo got off to a sound start on Tuesday, at the $220,000 XXIV SNAI Open, wining her first round match against the Italian in straight sets 6-3, 7-6(5).
Despite the solid support she received from the local crowd, Dentoni wasted a lot time in unloading her fast serving, punchy two-handed backhands and fiery forehands and fully allowed her Spanish opponent to match her all the way
and breaking in the tie-breaker to clinch the match in straight sets.
Arruabarrena-Vecino now moves on ahead to face fifth-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues in the second round of XXIC SNAI Open here on today.
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