Elena Vesnina beats Yana Buchina in the opening round – Baku Cup 2011
World number 33 Elena Vesnina fought off a resilient display from compatriot Yana Buchina to earn a place in the second round of 2011 Baku Cup, being played here at Baku, Azerbaijan.
Vesnina, seeded third, battled back from a break down to take a marathon third set before easing her way into the second round of the tournament, where she will meet Aravane Rezai of France.
Despite being broken during the early stages of the match, Vesnina played admirably in the face of some brutal tennis from her outstanding compatriot, justifying her world ranking of No.33.
Both players started off great and there was very little to suggest that the Russian No.373 would lose at the end of the match as she came flying out of the blocks with some magnificent and jaw-dropping display of tennis. The Russian
qualifier, Buchina, started in the same way she had finished against Sofia Kvatsabaia of Georgia in the second round of qualifier, breaking Vesnina in the opening game with series of punishing groundstrokes.
Vesnina, apparently taken aback by her compatriot’s power, looked to have no answer to Buchina’s beast of a two-handed backhand. However, the third seed displayed occasional reminders of her brilliance and started to froth in confidence
as the first set reached towards its business end. Although Vesnina made a wasteful use of the only breakpoint opportunity she had in the opener, she kept a watchful eye on her ensuing mistakes, winning the opening set with six games to Buchina’s two.
As the second set unfolded, the Russian seed went from good to bad as she was broken in quick succession to trail 3-1 in the second set. Buchina was now in full flow, mixing fearsome groundstrokes with a touch of terrifying drop
shots and she took the second set to tie the score at one set apiece.
As the second set closed out, a rollercoaster set followed, with both women breaking each other a couple of times to give their fans a reason not to lose their concentration in a third set, featuring some gruelling rallies. The
final set proved just as entertaining as everyone had expected, with Vesnina ignoring a couple of match points, thanks to some stunning aces from the lower-ranked Russian.
The hard work that Buchina had put in the start of the third set, however, did not pay back as Vesnina stormed into a 5-4 lead.
Serving to stay in the match, Buchina hit a wonderful shot to take the set at 5-all, but in truth the less fortunate Russian was looking tired and defeat looked inevitable.
Vesnina kept calm to earn the decisive match point after Buchina put a forehand long, and the Russian No.33 was soon blowing kisses, reaching the second round and setting up a clash with the French Aravane Rezai.
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