Anastasia Rodionova blasts away Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in opening round – Generali Ladies Linz 2011
Australian lucky loser, Anastasia Rodionova drilled through Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova with a breadstick in the opening round at the Generali Ladies Linz 2011, a WTA International tier-II event taking place on the indoor
hard courts in Linz, Austria. She warded off early resilience by the Czech to register a 7-6(6), 6-1 success and to advance in this tournament on Wednesday.
Ranked 115th in the Sony Ericsson WTA Premier rankings, Rodionova required almost two hours to cripple down the Czech, ranked seventy-one spots above her, with a breadstick. Facing each other for the fifth time, the
Aussie not only took lead in the head-to-head series by 3-2 against Strycova but also inched towards the $220,000 prize money.
The Russian-born Rodionova unleashed flurry of groundstrokes to reel off four games in a row after Strycova held her second serve in the third game. However, she lost her track and after exchanging three breaks, the set went to
a tie-breaker. The highly positive Aussie remained focused in the match and eventually bagged the opener with a 7-6(6) win.
She saved two out of five breakpoints encountered and capitalised on three out of five breakpoint chances to her advantage. Rodionova clobbered a lower first serve share of 67 percent as compared to Czech’s 71 percent but she registered
an impressive 59 percent win on it.
The high flying Aussie got the first blood in the second game but lost her edge in the very next game. However, she went into rage mode to strike out next four games in a row to earn a breadstick. Rodionova saved two out of three
breakpoints faced and cashed in on half of the six breakpoint opportunities to her advantage.
The Australian starlet manifested a slightly higher first serve share of 62 percent as opposed to Strycova’s 60 percent but she registered a plausible 63 percent win on it.
At the end of the day, Rodionova made into the quarter-finals of this tournament as her next opponent withdrew from the event due to a left thigh injury.
The beaming Aussie tweeted later, “I think I'm very luck looser this week. after passing 1st round today I found out that Flavia pulled out and I'm in quarterfinal already! :)”
The lucky Australian star will next face the winner of the match between Seventh seeded Slovak Dominika Cibulkova and Italy’s Sara Errani. She needs to stay confident and give the same performance if her opening round match to
bid for her first WTA title.
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