Anastasia Rodionova stuns Jie Zheng in the qualifiers of Internazionali BNL d’Italia
Qualifying ninth seed Australian Anastasia Rodionova bounced back from a set down to defeat qualifying second seed Chinese Jie Zheng by 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 on Sunday. She has now advanced into the main draw of the 2011 Internazionali BNL D’Italia, a clay court tournament held in Rome, Italy.
World number 80 Rodionova took two hours and eighteen minutes to eliminate the threat posed by the Chinese, ranked 30 places above her, to reach the main draw at Foro Italico.
The Aussie hasn’t had much progress this season and lost from either the opening round or the second round from all tournaments she entered. She entered this tournament with a different strategy and won for the first time two matches in a row this season. Rodionova trashed American Vania King with a bagel in the first round of qualifier and overpowered the Chinese to book a main draw spot at this WTA Premier 5 event.
The former top fifteen on the other side of net shared the same fate this season and won three out of last ten matches. She re-ignited her old spark in the first round by dumping the Italian wild card enterer Anastasia Grymalska with an assuring 6-2, 6-2 score line. She stormed into the opening set and after exchanging breaks twice early on, the Chinese converted another breakpoint opportunity to her advantage to clinch the set with a 6-3 win.
The Aussie got on track in the second set and despite committing a lower first serve share she registered an impressive 67 percent win on it. Rodionova held her entire serves by blistering forehands from her arsenal of skills and broke the Chinese serve twice to win the equaliser with a convincing 6-2 score line.
She kept momentum rolling into the final set and held her opening serve spectacularly. Although the Aussie lost her serve three times, she broke Zheng’s serve four times to seal the decider by winning seven games to five. Rodionova had a lower first serve share of 65 percent as opposed to Chinese’s 81 percent but she earned an acceptable 55 percent win on it.
The Aussie will next face Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova who had only won three out of her last ten matches. Rodionova can easily triumph over the Kazakhs if she keeps her current form.
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