Anna Chakvetadze advances in the qualifiers at Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
Qualifying top seed Russian Anna Chakvetadze trashed her 22-year-old countrywoman, Regina Kulikova in straight sets on Sunday. She registered a 6-3, 6-4 win over her fellow Russian to advance in the qualifiers at Porsche Arena
on Sunday.
Ranked 50th in the WTA Premier event rankings, Chakvetadze hasn’t had much activity this season due to injuries. She exited from the first rounds at Brisbane and Hobart but was ousted from the second rounds at Dubai
and Indian wells due to retirements. She entered this tournament full of confidence and dumped German wild card entrant, Julia Kimmelmann in straight sets.
The 24-year-old displayed tremendous skills in the match and overpowered Kulikova in one hour and thirty-nine minutes in their first ever face to face.
The seeded Russian made a fascinating start and held her serve in the first game plausibly. She played well throughout the match and held her remaining serves by her massive forehands from her arsenal of skills. Chakvetadze committed
zero double faults and faced zero breakpoint. She registered an amazing 86 percent win on her higher first serve share and also found seven breakpoint opportunities of which she converted one to her advantage in the eighth game to seal the set with an assuring
6-3 score line.
Chakvetadze carried her momentum into the second set and held her opening serve to keep on track. She then exchanged an early break and later broke her fellow Russian’s serve again to clinch the set with a 6-4 win. The elder Russian
committed fewer double faults and produced a higher first serve share of 73 percent as opposed to Kulikova’s 66 percent. She also earned a convincing 68 percent win on it and found seven breakpoint opportunities again.
Kulikova, lying 127 ranks below her fellow countrywoman, has only played at Sydney and Australian Open before entering this event. She had a good start at Stuttgart as she destroyed Slovak Michaela Pochabova with a breadstick in
the first round. However, she clobbered several unforced errors, six double faults and found only a single breakpoint opportunity to eventually exit from the 2011 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
Chakvetadze will next face Ukrainian Mariya Koryttseva who dumped Russian Vitalia Diatchenko with a bagel to reach this spot. The Ukrainian saved 67 percent of the breakpoints she faced and converted five out of nine breakpoint
opportunities to her advantage to win the match with a 6-4, 6-0 score line. She also registered a convincing 76 percent win on her slightly higher first serve share.
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