Elena Vesnina labours past Stephanie Dubois to clear round one – Family Circle Cup 2012
Contest between the two unseeded competitors, Elena Vesnina of Russia and Stephanie Dubois, took two hours and 24 minutes of play before settling in the favour of the 25-year-old Russian. The world number 56, Vesnina, went through
a gruelling battle before taking down Dubois in straight sets, 7-6(10), 7-5, to march into the second round of the Family Circle Cup on Monday afternoon.
It was the second encounter between these two competitors in the current season. Dubois outplayed the Russian in the opening round of the Australian Open this January but Vesnina registered a thumping victory to level the head-to-head
series against her at 1-1. It was her fourth victory of the running season, with already seven defeats to her name.
Vesnina delivered 59 per cent of her serve on target, securing 39 out of 57 first serve points en route to victory. She had 11 break opportunities in the contest but only four conversions proved sufficient for her to close out
the contest in her favour. Dubois bettered her by banging in 71 per cent of her first serve on target and securing 44 out of 67 points on it but she was outsmarted in terms of break point conversions. She registered three out of eight serve breaks in the matchup
to finish on the losing side in the end.
A conventional start to the opening set witnessed successive serve holds in the opening eight games of the first set. Vesnina finally delivered the first serve break of the match in the ninth game, only to be broken in the very
next game to fall back at 5-5. A tie-breaker round came into play at 6-6 and the decider also went to the wire. The Russian eventually closed out the opener after a very stiff battle at 7-6(10).
Intense tennis continued in the following set as well, with both contestants exchanging two serve breaks apiece to reach 6-5, with Vesnina leading. Dubois failed to hold her serve in the all-important 12th game and let
Vesnina cruise to victory with a serve break. The Russian will meet the fifth seeded American, Serena Williams, in the second round.
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