Anastasia Rodionova stuns Anabel Medina Garrigues to reach pre-quarters – Family Circle Cup 2012
Australian star, Anastasia Rodionova, surprised everyone by upsetting the 10th seed, Anabel Medina Garrigues, in straight sets at the Family Circle Cup 2012 on Tuesday. She jolted down a 7-5, 6-3 victory against the
world number 27 to advance into the third round at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier event held on the clay courts in Charleston.
The Russian-born stayed on track to bid for her maiden WTA career title after shocking the Spanish number one in an almost two hour-long venture. Both contenders previously duel each other at the Guangzhou WTA event five years
ago and after earning this fame, Rodionova levelled the head-to-head series by 2-2 against the Spaniard.
The 29-year-old Aussie made a wobbly entry at the Family Circle Tennis Center and gifted away her serve in the opening game. Regardless of recovering in the very next game, she lost her serve again and subsequently went 1-3 down.
However, Rodionova remained calm and snatched her break back in the sixth game to square the scores at 3-3. She kept remaining serves with poise and capitalised on another break chance in the last game to bag the opener with a 7-5 win.
The Aussie went out of control in the following set and after blasting forehands and backhands, she went on a five-game tear before Garrigues could hold on. Regardless of losing her serve in the seventh game, Rodionova held her
serve once more and sealed the set by winning six games to three.
Ranked 98th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Rodionova, will next face the conqueror of the match between two former world number one stars, Jelena Jankovic and Venus Williams.
The Australian number one, Samantha Stosur, also earned the limelight later that day. She flashed into the opening set and after hammering angled shots, Stosur went on a six-game tear.
The US Open titlist maintained her intensity in the following set and apart from losing her serve once, Stosur cashed in both break chances to clinch the set with a 7-5 score line.
Overall, the world number five clobbered a better first serve share and impressively clicked 26 out of 35 points on it.
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