Hantuchova and Radwanska breezes into the second round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia
The Slovak Polish duo of Daniela Hantuchova and Agnieszka Radwanska slew the Australian team of Casey Dellacqua and Rennae Stubbs with a bagel in the 2011 Internazionali BNL D’Italia. They registered a 6-0, 6-3 victory over the Australians to advance into the second round on Tuesday.
Hantuchova and Radwanska both are in great form this season so far. The winning combination of Slovak and Polish reached the semi-finals at Indian wells and won the doubles title at Miami before coming here at Foro Italico.
The Slovakian Polish combination thundered into the opening set and unleashed flurry of ground strokes to reel off first six matches in a row and earned the bagel. They played their best tennis and had perfect co-ordination among themselves. Hantuchova and Radwanska also produced a much better first serve share of 59 percent as compared to their rivals’ 32 percent and registered a convincing 60 percent win on it.
They carried their winning ways into the final set and spectacularly held their serve in the first game. The Slovak Polish duo exchanged an early break and broke Dellacqua and Stubbs’ serve again in the eighth game to seal the set by winning six games to three. They again had a higher first serve share and registered an impressive 65 percent win on it.
The Aussies on the other hand haven’t had much progress in doubles. In this match, they barely survived the first set and did literally nothing in it. Dellacqua and Stubbs re-focused into the second set and broke the Slovak Polish tandem’s serve once but it wasn’t enough to hold them back.
Up next for Hantuchova and Radwanska is the second seeded pair of Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik and it would be a worthwhile duel to watch.
Chinese pair of Shuai Peng and Jie Zheng will be joining the Slovak Polish team in the next round. They trashed South African Natalie Grandin and Czech Vladimira Uhlirova in sixty-two minutes to advance in this event later that day. The Chinese pair converted four out of seven breakpoint opportunities to their advantage to seal the deal with a 6-2, 6-4 score line.
Chinese produced a lower first serve share of 64 percent as opposed to their rivals' 71 percent but they earned an acceptable 60 percent win on it. They also clobbered less double faults and dominated throughout the match.
Peng and Zheng will next face fourth seeds American Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond who received a bye into the second round for bring top four seeds in this tournament.
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