Chanelle Scheepers bounces over Marina Erakovic in round two – Internazionali BNL D’Italia 2012
South African number one, Chanelle Scheepers rallied past New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic in a three set thriller at the Internazionali BNL D’Italia 2012 on Wednesday. She nudged up a 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 victory against the world number 41 to labour into the third round at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Five event taking place in Rome, Italy.
The South African veteran showed exceptional tennis to outrun Erakovic in their first encounter with each other. She lost the opening set but made a spectacularly reply afterwards. After outshining her rival in two hours and 17 minutes, Scheepers convincingly advanced into the round of 16 at this red clay court event.
The Croatian-born Erakovic made a slow start at Foro Italico and suffered the first blow in the fourth game to go 1-3 down. However, she not only snatched her break back in the very next game but capitalised on another break chance in the 11th game to pull out the opener with a 7-5 win.
Scheepers carried her drastic ways towards the following set and lost her serve in the opening game. However, she went on a six-game killing spree and subsequently pulled out the breadstick to equalise the set scores. The South African failed to ward off lone breakpoint she faced and cashed in half of the six break chances to stay in the game.
Ranked 50th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Scheepers kept her rhythm in the final set and went on a four-game rampage before the 24-year-old could hold on. She then plucked remaining serves with poise and clinched the decider with a 6-2 score line.
All in all, the 28-year-old clobbered a better first serve share of 66 per cent as compared to her rival’s 58 per cent and impressively marked 39 out of 62 points on it.
Scheepers will next confront the Roland Garros titlist, Li Na, who crippled Czech Republic’s Iveta Benesova with a breadstick to set-up this meeting.
The top seed, Victoria Azarenka, also stole the show later that day. She slew the Israeli number one, Shahar Peer, with a breadstick in 55 minutes to progress. However, the Belarusian number one later pulled out from the tournament after suffering a shoulder injury afterwards.
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