Fired-up Johanna Larsson tops Sofia Arvidsson in the semi-finals – Collector Swedish Open 2011
Swede number one Johanna Larsson has safely moved through to the final round of Collector Swedish Open after defeating compatriot Sofia Arvidsson 6-3, 6-1.
Larsson and Arvidsson had played seven times before, with Arvidsson winning four of those matches but now after losing her quarterfinal match against the compatriot, she has tied the score at 4-all.
Arvidsson and Larsson may both be compatriots, but as long as their set-score was concerned, it was about all they had in common, as the 22-year-old Larsson executed a master class in her new-found brand of offensive tennis.
The young and energetic Larsson came into yesterday’s encounter against the 27-year-old compatriot, having lost to her four times before, but at times in the early stages it was hard to believe how Arvidsson had ever out mastered
Larsson.
Playing in front of a loud home crowd, the 22-year-old Larsson hardly made any mistake from the get go, gliding across the baseline and whipping away winner after winner when the good luck came itself, which dismally for Arvidsson,
was absent.
As the contest began, Larsson looked very casual, almost as if she was having a practice session. She moved easily, quickly and gracefully around the court, while Arvidsson could not absorb the pace of Larsson and soon found herself
down at a 0-1 lead.
Applying pressure from the opening game, Larsson broke to go 1-0 ahead, quickly racing through next two games to amass a 3-1 lead. Playing with a lot of grace, Larsson deposited a forehand smash which Arvidsson could only gaze
at.
The first set was Larsson’s 6-3 in just few minutes, and the younger Swede wasted little time in amassing a breadstick lead in the second set.
Larsson wrapped up her second set breadstick win with 76 percent of points on her service, 56 percent of points on return and 25 of 37 points in total. In contrast, Arvidsson wrapped up the match with 44 percent of points on service,
a meager 24 percent of return and a total of 12 of 37 during the match that lasted for about one hour, eight minutes and 58 seconds.
With this win, Larsson has extended her year-to-date win/loss mark to 18/17 matches and now moves on into the finals of the tournament where she will meet eighth-seeded Polona Hercog of Slovenia.
Larsson and Hercog will meet for the second time in their career, having the head-to-head score standing at 1-0 in Hercog’s favor.
Tags: