Diatchenko/ Niculescu defeat Vidagany/ Espinosa at the Andalucia Tennis Experience Doubles
Fourth seeded pair of Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia and Monica Niculescu of Romania took down the Spanish wildcard duo of Beatriz Garcia Vidagany and Silvia Soler Espinosa in the quarter-finals of the doubles category of the Andalucia Tennis Experience at Marbella, Spain. The winning pair settled the clash in straight sets 6-3, 6-1, taking one hour of play to make it to the semis of the $220,000 WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) tournament.
Diatchenko and Niculescu exhibited brilliant coordination and timing to outclass their home favourite opponents. The fourth seeded team cruised past the opening set of the game and completed its demolition job on the second set to dispense the local hopes out of the tournament.
Like any other doubles game, the contest featured short rallies with plenty of net volleys and cross-court winners. Vidagany and Espinosa hung in for a while in the opening set with their defensive game but were totally devastated by their superior opponents in the next set to end on a losing note. Lack of coordination was clearly observed among the Spaniards and their opponents well exploited this weakness.
The two teams served around the 60 per cent mark in the game but the combination of Diatchenko and Niculescu bagged a lot more points than the Spanish duo. The opener took off with plenty of serve breaks from both sides and the two teams trying to get the early advantage over one another. An exchange of two serve breaks from each pair was seen which took the scores to 4-3 with the fourth seeded duo leading the set.
Diatchenko and Niculescu took the reins of the game from then onwards and never looked back again. They stung a third break point to reach the set point at 5-3 and served out of the first set with ease. Out of 53 total points being played in the opener, Diatchenko and Niculescu collected 30 while the Spaniards followed them with 23.
The Spanish slumped further in the next set as Diatchenko and Niculescu kept their winning momentum going. The Fourth seeded duo bagged 88 per cent first serve points in the second set to get the competitive advantage. They broke the Spaniards three out of four times before concluding the contest at 6-1 and booking a place in the semi-finals.
Up next for Diatchenko and Niculescu is the top seed Italian pair of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, who defeated the team of Maria Elena Camerin and Sorana Cirstea en route to the semi-final of the Andalucia Tennis Experience.
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