Dinara Safina knocks Arantxa Rus out of the Andalucia Tennis Experience
Former world number one Dinara Safina of Russia dispensed out the Dutch women, Arantxa Rus, in the opening round of the Andalucia Tennis Experience at Marbella, Spain on Tuesday. The Russian wildcard wrapped up the three-set thriller
at 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, taking two hours and thirteen minutes to advance to the next stage of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) event.
The 81st ranked Russian showed her vintage class to bounce back after being one set down in the competition and bagged two consecutive sets to come out as the winner. Safina, who has been 0-3 in three-set matches this
year, registered her sixth victory of the current WTA season to make it to the second round at Marbella.
“It’s good to finally win one,” reflected Safina to the press reporters in her post match reviews, “Everything she hit was landing in, on the line. But I hung in there and the moment she thought that she could win she got tight
and started to miss shots. So I think at the crucial moment my experience played a big part and helped me to win.”
The 24-year-old Russian had some difficulties in the opener while getting her eye in the game and slopped a number of unforced errors, including four double faults, to lose the early advantage. Rus was quick to take down Safina
in the first set and reeled off 20 out of 31 serve points while delivering 74 per cent first serve on target. The Dutch broke her opponent in the third and seventh game of the set and raced away to close the opener at 6-3.
20-year-old Rus became a bit too ambitious after winning the opening set and tend to lose her focus in the game. She merely won 38 per cent serve points and registered just one serve break in the second set. Safina proved miser
in awarding unforced errors and exhibited brilliant error-free power hitting to craft three serve breaks in the set. The 91st ranked Russian cashed in most of her opportunities to rally past her opponent, sealing the second set at 6-2.
Safina had appeared rusty in the third sets of the prior three matches this year, losing on every occasion, but it wasn’t this time round. She looked confident and composed to overcome her Dutch rival in the hard-fought decider.
Rus struck two serve breaks with her 73 per cent first serve but failed to bag sufficient points in the third set. Safina finally concluded victory at 6-4 after stinging her third break point in the third set.
The Russian wildcard will now face off against the fifth seed Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria in the second round of the Andalucia Tennis Experience. Pironkova devastated the Spanish qualifier, Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor in straight
sets, 6-2, 6-2, in the first round at Marbella.
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