Barbora Zahlavova Strycova outdoes Flavia Pennetta in the quarterfinals – Swedish Open 2011
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of Czech Republic beat all odds to over the second-seeded Flavia Pennetta in the quarterfinal match of the Collector Swedish Open here on Thursday.
Undoubtedly, Pennetta did struggle and managed to take the second set from the Czech, but it was the Czech woman who ultimately prevailed in the end to set up a meeting with Polona Hercog in the semi-final.
The second-seeded Italian lost no time proving that she meant business in this quarterfinal match, coming out on fire with her backhand and breaking a slightly shell-shocked Strycova straight away, but her Czech opponent quickly
regained her breath and with a bevy of heavy forehands, she clinched the three-set marathon.
Strycova, the world No 60 and a quarter-finalist last summer, had been hitting freely as she took a one-set lead, and was about to serve for the second set, the match and a place in the semi-finals. But it was then that Pennetta
broke Strycova for the first time of the match, and the second-seeded took the second set to 5-all.
And while Strycova started to fret and fumble, Pennetta was suddenly swinging at the ball with greater confidence, introducing the third set and levelling the score at one set apiece.
The second set of the match was probably filled with more drama than the remaining sets combined as the second-seeded Italian showed why her two-handed backhand is regarded as one of the beautiful shots in the game, and also proved
that she was more than capable of holding her own against the Czech and showing that she could play some clever-clogs drop shots better than Strycova.
The first break point of the set came on Strycova's serve in the eighth game, but she saved the first with a speedy serve that Pennetta could not return and, on the third, Pennetta flicked a forehand wide. But, with Strycova's
first serve percentage dangerously low, Pennetta struck in the 12th game, for the set. On the fifth set point, Strycova squeezed a forehand volley wide of the court, and the set was Pennetta's.
Perhaps the end of the second set had thrown Pennetta's concentration a little. She lost her opening service game of the third set. From leading 30-0, she lost the next two points with poor drop shots, and hit a couple of unforced
errors to set up break point, which Strycova duly converted. Pennetta had her two break points in the ninth game of that set, but it came to nothing, and those two breaks proved to be the difference, losing the decider with three games to six.
Pennetta could not restrict the Czech from winning the major points and lost her quarterfinal match with a difference of 5 points. In contrast, Strycova proved herself the better player statistically, winning the match with 107
points in total.
She now marches on into the semi-final where she will meet Polona Hercog of Slovenia.
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