Benesova/ Strycova triumph over Hradecka/ Makarova for title win –Luxembourg Open 2011
Top seeded Czech duo of Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova crushed second seeds, Czech Lucie Hradecka and Russian Ekaterina Makarova, at the title round of the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open 2011, a WTA International
event taking place on the indoor hard courts of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. They registered a 7-5, 6-3 victory over the lower seeds to clinch their fourth title of the season on Sunday.
The highest ranked pair in Luxembourg, Benesova and Strycova required one hour and thirteen minutes to tumble over the Czech Russian tandem on their first face-to-face.
The Czech made a drastic entry in the opening set and after gifting away their serves twice, they fell 4-0. However, Benesova and Strycova roared back by changing their strategy and eventually levelled the scores at 5-5. The top
seeds then converted another breakpoint opportunity to their advantage to clinch the opener by winning seven games to five.
They clobbered a much better first serve share of 84 percent as compared to their rivals’ 62 percent and registered an acceptable 50 percent win on it. In addition to this, the Czech team warded off two out of five breakpoints
came across and cashed in on half of the eight breakpoint opportunities to their advantage.
Benesova and Strycova improved their co-ordination on their way towards the final set. Despite losing their serve in the opening game, they stayed focus throughout the remaining match and broke Hradecka and Makarova’s serve twice
to eventually seal the set by winning six games to three.
The winning combination of Czech starlets manipulated an equal first serve share of 67 percent and earned an impressive 67 percent win on it. They saved one out of two breakpoints faced but capitalised on both breakpoint opportunities
to their advantage.
The winning seeds had an impressive journey on their route to final. They trashed Germans, Mona Barthel and Laura Siegemund in the opening round and battled past Andreja Klepac and Anna Tatishvili in the quarters. Benesova and
Strycova then dumped Romanian Slovakian pair of Simona Halep and Janette Husarova in the semi-finals to set-up this meeting.
Hradecka and Makarova, on the other hand, made an impressive entry in this $220,000 event as they sailed past Austrian German team of Sandra Klemenschits and Tamira Paszek with a breadstick. The high spirited duo went ahead to
dump Pauline Parmentier of France and Selima Sfar of Tunisia in straight sets in the quarters. They then overpowered fourth seeds, Spanaird Anabel Medina Garrigues and Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in three sets to reach this spot.
This was Benesova and Strycova's fourth year-to-date career title and their ninth overall.
Tags: