Chanelle Scheepers destroys Magdalena Rybarikova to clinch title win – WANLIMA Women’s Open 2011
Seventh seeded South African Chanelle Scheepers breezed past eighth seeded Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova in straight sets at the WANLIMA Guangzhou International Women’s Open 2011, a WTA International event held on the outdoor hard
courts in Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China. She registered a 6-2, 6-2 victory over the world number 72, Rybarikova to clinch her maiden title on Saturday.
Ranked 73rd in the Sony Ericsson WTA Premier rankings, Scheepers put up a brilliant display of tennis to ease past the Slovak in one and half hours on their second meeting. She not only took revenge for her loss at Birmingham
in 2009 but also shelved her first singles title.
The Harrismith native, Scheepers smoothly plucked in entire serves without facing a breakpoint. After Rybarikova held her second serve in the third game, the South African went into savage mode to reel off next five games in a
row to clinch the set with a 6-2 score line. She clobbered an excellent first serve share of 68 percent as compared to Slovak’s 35 percent and registered a fabulous 74 percent win on it. Furthermore, Scheepers converted two out of three breakpoint opportunities
to her advantage to win easily.
The Slovak, who dumped the defending champion Jarmila Gajdosova in straight sets in the quarters, re-focused to hold her opening serve convincingly. However, she lost her way again after it.
27-year-old South African on the other hand re-created her magic to wipe out next five games consecutively before Rybarikova could hold on again. Scheepers then held her serve to seal the victory by winning six games to two.
The blissful Scheepers, who upset top seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia in the semis, warded off both breakpoints faced and formulated a higher first serve share of 58 percent as opposed to Slovak’s 45 percent. She also earned an
acceptable 63 percent win on it and cashed in on both breakpoint chances to her advantage.
"I don't remember much about the match point. I was so in the moment. I know it was a long point, but it seemed so long ago," Scheepers said. "Every match before the final was difficult. It seemed like I was fighting every match
and all of them were hard in their own way."
The dreamy South African became the first South African to win a WTA title since Amanda Coetzer in 2003. "The title means a lot to me because I've worked so hard, to finally win one is really rewarding," the 27-year-old said. "Being
the first since Amanda Coetzer is the cherry on the cake."
Scheepers went beyond a quarter-final for the first time in her life. The 22-year-old Slovak on the other hand was playing her third WTA final. She won titles at Birmingham two years ago and at Memphis earlier this season.
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