Anna Chakvetadze dumps Irena Pavlovic to reach the final qualifier - Porsche Tennis Grand Prix 2012
Russian spearhead, Anna Chakvetadze, defeated the French starlet, Irena Pavlovic, to book a spot in the final qualifying round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix tournament. She won the match in three sets 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 and setup
a clash with the seventh seed Ukrainian, Kateryna Bondarenko.
It started with a serve hold at both ends before the French starlet went down a break in the third game. Former world number five took advantage of that opportunity and mounted a lead of 3-1 with a serve hold.
Another breakthrough in the following game further consolidated her position and she registered a resounding 5-1 with her opponent serving to stay in the set. Unfortunately, the French couldn’t hold serve for the third time in
a row and lost the first set in an embarrassing fashion.
However, Pavlovic didn’t lose heart and started the second set in a much improved fashion; bagging the first three serve games to keep the scores together at 3-3. Suddenly, the tempo of the match switched in favour of the French
and she broke serve to take the lead.
A serve hold further consolidated the situation for her. Chakvetadze served to keep the set alive but failed to do so, dropping the second breakpoint on the trot and squandering the lead of one set. It seemed like the Russian will,
once again, fade away in the qualifiers.
However, the Russian took control of the final set from the start with the help of breakthrough and gusted away to a lead of 2-0 in the meantime. Both players capitalized on their respective serves and pushed the scores to 5-3.
Pavlovic had to hold serve to make sure that she stayed in the hunt for a spot in the final qualifier but she wasn’t able to save a breakpoint. Chakvetadze finally escaped the scare and marched into the third and final qualifier
of the tournament.
Earlier in the day, Hungarian tennis icon, Greta Arn ousted Sesil Karatantcheva, to march ahead. Annika Beck, Alize Cornet, Akgul Amanmuradova and Iveta Benesova won their respective battles to progress into the final qualifying
round stage.
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