Anastasija Sevastova sails past Simona Halep into quarterfinal – Luxembourg Open 2011
Latvian Anastasija Sevastova continued her ascent at the 2011 BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open on Thursday, 20th October after she cruised past unseeded Romaine, Simona Halep into the quarterfinal round of the event.
Sevastova took nearly seventy one minutes as she did away with the higher ranked Romaine, registering a twin set score 6-2, 6-2 win.
Playing her fourth career match against the Romaine, Sevastova went 3-1 in the head-to-head score. The only time she had suffered defeat against the Romaine had come earlier in the year at Copenhagen. However, this time around
Sevastova was able to turn the tables.
Sevastova won the coin toss and opened service in the first set. As she made it onto the scoreboard, she was followed closely by the Romaine. The neck to neck run between the two continued well into the next two games as the score
stood levelled at two games each.
Standing at 3-2 after a successful hold of serve, Sevastova broke Halep in the sixth game to go 4-2, extending it to 5-2 on her service. After several deuces, the Latvian was able to once more break her opponent, closing out the
set with a 6-2 win.
Although both players double faulted the same number of times, Sevastova took an edge in the stats as she won an impressive 85 percent on her first serve as opposed to her opponent’s miserable 57 percent.
Expected to be a carbon copy of the first set as the score suggests, the second set was far from it. With Sevastova holding serve only twice and Halep none, the set was filled with breakpoints. Starting the set, both players broke
each other successfully to keep the score levelled at 1-1. However, holding her serve and once more breaking the Romaine, Sevastova went 3-1 in the lead, extending it to 5-1 with a repeat of the feat. Although Halep broke back in the seventh game to reduce
the deficit to 2-5, it wasn’t enough to hold the Latvian. Breaking Halep for the final time in the match, Sevastova clinched another 6-2 win, sealing her straight sets victory.
The unseeded Latvian who had earlier upset fourth seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta in the first round, now moves into the final eight where she will be playing eighth seeded German, Julia Goerges.
Although Halep exits the singles draw, the Romaine had enough left in her to move into the semi-final of the doubles draw. Partnering Slovak Janette Husarova, she upset the third seeded team of Klaudia Ignacik and Jasmin Woehr
with a 6-4, 6-4 win.
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