Arina Rodionova, Coco Vandeweghe through to the second – AEGON Classic 2011
Qualifier Arina Rodionova continued her dream run at the grass court season as she upset Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano 6-4, 6-4 to advance into the second round of 2011 AEGON Classic championships in Birmingham.
Ranked 233rd in the world, Rodionova looked in great touch at the AEGON Classic qualification tournament as she secured comfortable wins in her two matches at the competition.
Looking in commanding form, Rodionova started the match on a positive note. Breaking the serve twice, the Russian pocketed the opener 6-4. Despite a good come back from Razzano to take 4-2 lead in the second set, Rodionova held
her nerves and clinched four straight games to end the match in straight sets.
Dominating her opponent, the Russian made an attacking start to the contest. She broke the serve early to take a curial 3-1 lead in the opening set. Razzano was also up for the challenge and broke straight back to level the game
score 3-3. Rodionova kept her head down and received another chance of breaking the serve in eighth game of the set. Converting the break point with a big forehand winner down the line, she raced to 5-3 lead in the set. Securing her next service game with
ease, she bagged the set 6-4.
The second also followed a pretty similar pattern with Rodionova dominating nearly all aspects of the game. An impressive 72 percent first serve conversion made a huge difference for the Russian as she was able to take control
of the rallies. Razzano claimed only three out of nine break points in the match, which of course led to her down fall. To yield better results in her upcoming matches at the Women’s Tennis Association tour, the Frenchwoman must try and bring consistency in
her game play.
In another match at the WTA tournament, Coco Vandeweghe of United States thrashed out Japanese qualifier Shuko Aoyama 6-2, 6-1 to book a second round place on Monday.
Vandeweghe incredible retrieving abilities created all sorts of problems for the challenger as she saved certain points against her. With her great attacking approach, the American broke the serve at regular intervals throughout
the match. Dashing an amazing forehand winner on the run, she made a couple of match points available to her and then converted the first one with a well disguised drop shot.
Aoyama had looked in good touch at the qualification tournament but lost the track against her American rival suffering a straight sets defeat. She will be looking to put up a better show on her next WTA appearance.
Tags: