Dulko/Suarez defeat Groenefeld/Zhang to reach quarters – Mutua Madrid Open 2012
Argentinean junction, Gisela Dulko and Paola Suarez, dumped the German-Chinese pair, Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Shuai Zhang, in straight sets at the Mutua Madrid Open 2012 on Tuesday. They formulated a 7-6(4), 6-3 victory against their rivals to cruise into
the quarter-finals at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) clay court event taking place in Madrid.
The Argentineans trashed Groenefeld and Zhang after warding off late resistance in one hour and 13 minutes. As a result, Dulko and Suarez confidently entered the final eight at this Premier Mandatory event taking place form 4th
to 13th May.
Dulko and Suarez made a terribly entry at Park Manzanares and suffered the first blow in the opening game to go 0-2 down. Despite recovering in the sixth game, they lost their serve again in the very next game and eventually fell at 3-5. However, the Argentineans
stayed calm and snatched their break back in the 10th game, levelling the scores at 5-5. The set subsequently went to the tie-breaker where Dulko and Suarez outclassed their rivals and clinched the opener with a 7-6(4) score line.
The veterans kept momentum floating into the follow-up set and held their opening serve to square the scores at 1-1. After the German-Chinese collaboration kept their serve in the second fifth game, Dulko and Suarez stroke out the last four games in a row
and bagged the set with by winning six games to three.
All in all, Dulko and Suarez outfoxed their opponents completely as they produced a better first serve share of 78 per cent as opposed to their opponents’ 65 per cent and amazingly availed 32 out of 47 points on it.
Up next for Dulko and Suarez is the Russian tandem, Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, who shocked third seeded Czechs, Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, in straight sets to set-up this battle. The Czechs failed to ward off the lone breakpoint they
came across but capitalised on four out of seven break chances to manipulate a 6-3, 6-2 score line in 65 minutes.
The top seeded Americans, Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond, also became the casualty of the day. They were crashed out by the Slovakian wild card entrants, Dominika Cibulkova and Janette Husarova, in gruelling three sets in almost two hours. Huber and Raymond
lost their serve three times but cashed in four out of eight break chances. However, they were underplayed in the super tie-breaker, eventually exiting from the tournament after suffering a 6-4, 6-7(6), 13-15 loss.
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