Daria Gavrilova flabbergasts Réka-Luca Jani
in 1st round – Slovak Open 2011
Russian qualifier Daria Gavrilova bowled over sixth seeded Hungarian Réka-Luca Jani in the first round of the Slovak Open 2011.
The two players had confronted each other on indoor hard courts of the Národné Tenisové Centrum in Bratislava, Slovakia and it took the Russian qualifier only sixty three minutes to overcome the sixth seeded Hungarian by beating
her in straight sets of 6-2, 6-3 on Tuesday the 15th of November 2011.
Although the Russian had taken a forceful style of play and even overpowered her adversary in both the sets, Jani did take a notch higher in her performance during the second set. During the first set of the match, serving first
was Jani and she was only able to target 43 percent of her first serves while, Gavrilova had hit a 61 percent of her first serves on target.
Similarly, Gavrilova not only had a strong forehand but also an average backhand that assisted her in accomplishing 48 percent of her total return points. Moreover, with almost twice as many total points won in the set as her rival’s,
she clogged the opening set with a 6-2 victory.
For the first four games of the initial round the players matched a blow for a blow but it was in the sixth game that Gavrilova capitalized on a break and took a mini lead of 4-2.
She then held her serve for the last time in the seventh game by smashing a marvellous forehand winner and in doing so; she was now a game away from victory. As Jani same under pressure, she double faulted on her serve and gifted
away the opening set to Gavrilova, who was now one up in the match.
Albeit, Gavrilova had set the tone for the second set, Jani pulled up her socks and geared for the following round. Inaugurating the second round was Gavrilova and this time, she reeled of straight two successive games early in
the set to take a mini lead by the end of the first two games.
However, the sixth seeded Hungarian made a return by breaking back immediately in the next game and with a hold of serve equalized the score at two games each.
Amidst the sixth and the seventh games, the two challengers once more broke each other one after the other and the score had shifted to 4-3 at the end of the seventh game. It was a lucky break for Gavrilova as she capitalized on
breakpoint and then held her serve for the last time to seal her victory of the set and the match.
The Russian qualifier reserved a spot in the second round where she will be facing either Frenchwoman Alize Lim or Slovakian Kristína Kučová.
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