Dinara Safina reaches the second round at the 2011 Mutua Madrid Open
Former world number one Dinara Safina showed exceptional fighting ability as she came back from a set down to clinch victory against Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 in the second round play at the 2011 Mutua Madrid
Open in Spain.
Safina has been in average form since the start this season. She started the year on a poor note as she was thrashed out in the opening round of Australian Open by eventual champion Kim Clijsters. In her next WTA tournament in
Kuala Lumpur she was ousted by number five seed Lucie Safarova in the second round. The Russian lifted her spirits and came up with a much better performance to reach the fourth round at the prestigious WTA BNP Paribas Open. Just a few days ago she reached
her first quarterfinal of the season at Marbella.
The Russian, who lifted the Madrid Open title in 2009, will be hoping for similar results on the clay courts of Madrid. However, she will be required to up her game play and maintain consistency in order to advance in the field
full of fierce competitors.
Safina made a slow start to the contest and took her time to settle down. Vives was quick to spot the opportunities and made a serve break to take 4-2 lead in the opening set. Although Safina held on to her next serve games, she
failed to stop the challenger from earning a well deserved 1-0 set score lead.
As the match progressed, Vives’s flare seemed fade out. She committed a large number of unforced errors in the second set. Safina broke the serve in seventh game of the set and then held on to her serve games as she levelled the
set score 1-1.
Vives had no luck in the final set either. She smashed her backhand shots onto the net on several occasions and allowed Safina to dictate terms. Her serve was broken early in the set by Russian and she could not recover from that
point. Safina converted one of the match points to wrap up the contest after 2 hours and 40 minutes of exciting play.
Safina’s serve was her main asset as she fired 6 aces in the match. She claimed 67 per cent of the points on her serve and also converted vital 48 per cent points on return to take complete control of the situation. Ranked 76 in
the world, Safina made excellent moves on the court and made her opponent run for her money with her aggressive approach.
In her next match-up at the WTA tournament, the Russian will take on German Julia Goerges who ousted 14th seed Kaia Kanepi 7-6 (3), 6-1, 6-4 to reach that far.
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