Chanelle Scheepers outshines Petra Martic to enter quarters – Hungarian Grand Prix 2013
South African top ranked star, Chanelle Scheepers, eased past the Croatian challenger, Petra Martic, in straight sets at the Hungarian Grand Prix 2013 on Thursday. She nudged up a 7-5, 6-4 victory against the Croat to secure a
place in the final eight at this outdoor clay court event being held in Budapest, Hungary.
Seeded sixth in this event, Scheepers displayed tremendous skills and abilities to triumph over the Croat. She broke her rival’s serve in the last game of both sets which led her victorious. The players previously battled each
other at the qualifying competition of ASB Classic in Auckland three years ago and after earning this limelight, the South African maintained her winning record.
The ecstatic South African was quoted in an on-court interview after clinching the match, "I'm happy to be in the quarters and to have made the transition to clay from grass fairly smoothly. Today's match was very close. Petra
is such a good player, so I knew I had to take my chances when I got them. The conditions were very tricky, as it was quite windy, so I'm glad to have gotten through today's match."
Scheepers stormed into this match and after drawing the first blood in the fourth game, she leaped to a 3-1 lead. Despite squandering her edge in the very next game, the South African stayed calm. She got the breakthrough in the
last game and clinched the opener with a 7-5 score line.
The 29-year-old suffered the first blow in the third game of the following set and fell at 1-3. She recovered in the sixth game but lost her serve again in the very next game. However, the South African stayed focused and reeled
off last three games to bag the set with a 6-4 win.
Next in queue for Scheepers is Danka Kovinic who became the first player from Montenegro to secure a quarter-final berth at a WTA event. Kovinic overpowered Valeria Solovyeva in a topsy-turvy three setter to set-up this battle.
"Tomorrow will be another tough opponent, but I will just keep on trying to do the same things I did in my previous rounds," the beaming South African reflected further.
The Israeli star, Shahar Peer, will accompany Scheepers in the final eight. She stunned the eighth seed, Anna Tatishvili, with double breadsticks to progress.
The jubilant Israeli commented in a post match presser, “I think I played really well and I'm really happy with my performance.”
Peer will take on the Romanian star, Alexandra Cadantu, who recorded a 4-6, 7-5, 4-0 retirement victory against the Czech contestant, Andrea Hlavackova. The Romanian warded off four match points in the second set before Hlavackova
was forced to withdraw due to cramps in the deciding set.
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