Caroline Wozniacki and Vera Zvonareva advance to quarter-finals in Qatar Ladies Open
Top seeded Dane, Caroline Wozniacki, and Russian Vera Zvonareva have both won their respective matches to advance to the quarter-finals of the Doha WTA Premier event on Wednesday.
Wozniacki defeated former world number three, Nadia Petrova, in straight sets. World number one, Wozniacki had a 90 percent winning record for her last ten matches. The last match she lost was at the semi-finals of Australian Open Grand Slam. She was ousted by Chinese Li Na. She recently won the final at Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. Being the top seed, she reached directly in the second round.
The Dane showed her class right from the beginning and went on to win an easy first serve. Both players displayed an awesome game of tennis but Wozniacki was able to edge past her as she won a break in the eighth game. Although Petrova fired an ace during the set, she was outclassed completely. The Dane had a higher first serve percentage of 79 percent compared to Petrova’s 69 percent. In addition to this, she earned an amazing 84 percent win on her first serve.
Wozniacki kept her top form in the second and the final set as well and with the help of three breaks, she clinched the set with a 6-2 score-line. The world number 22, Petrova, saved five break points, converted one and hammered the only ace of the set but she was unable to catch the fired up Dane. Wozniacki had an astonishing total service point winning percentage of 68 percent and return point winning percentage of 61 percent as compared to Russian’s 39 percent and 32 percent respectively in this final set.
After the match, the Dane said: “It's great to start off with a win and continue with my good form after Dubai.”
The in-form Wozniacki will be facing Italian Flavia Pennetta in the quarter-finals. She reached this spot after defeating Lucie Safarova in tough three sets. Thus the Dane can easily overcome her.
The second seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva will be joining the Dane in the quarter-finals. She overpowered world number 27, Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova, with a breadstick.
The world number three, Zvonareva, reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open Gran Slam and also the Pattaya Open. She lost in the second round at Dubai but she entered in this tournament confidently and reached this spot directly as she was one of the top four seeds.
Zvonareva unleashed herself in the opening set as she won six games including three with break points. The Slovakian tried to hold her back and managed to break Zvonareva’s serve once. But the break was only a small bump in the Russian’s road to victory as she won with a 6-1 score line.
Zvonareva continued her amazing performance in the second set as well as she went on to clinch the set by breaking Slovakian’s serve twice and by hammering two aces.
Overall she displayed her mind-blowing skills by getting a higher first serve percentage of 67 percent as compared to Cibulkova’s 57 percent. In addition to this, she registered an impressive 68 percent win on serve.
Zvonareva will be facing Cibulkova’s compatriot Daniela Hantuchova, who is in great form in the quarter finals.
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