Flavia Pennetta cripples Mariana Duque-Marino to reach semis – Abierto Mexicano Telcel 2012
Second seeded Flavia Pennetta devastated the Colombian qualifier, Mariana Duque-Marino, with a bagel at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel 2012 on Thursday. She registered a 6-0, 6-4 victory over the world number 168 to secure a place in the semi-finals at this
WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International level event held in Acapulco, Mexico.
The Italian veteran required 66-minutes to oust the qualifier in their second meeting. The stars previously battled each other at the Bogota WTA event five years ago where Pennetta warded off early resistance to pull out a straight set victory.
Pennetta assertively entered the Fairmont Acapulco Princess and held her serve in the opening game. She unleashed flurry of powerful groundstrokes to wipe out the proceeding five games in a row, eventually registering a spectacular 6-0 score line.
Ranked 29th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Pennetta lost her track into the follow-up set and suffered the first blow in the opening game to trail at 0-2. However, she made a fitting reply and after reeling off the following four games successively,
going 4-2 up. The Italian then exchanged two serve breaks in the last four games and pocketed the set with a 6-4 win.
The 30-year-old displayed exceptional skills throughout this clay court tournament. She hit back at Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson in the second set tie-breaker and eventually pocketed the second round late night match.
"It wasn't easy to play again today after playing so late yesterday, but we both played really well and I'm happy to win," the high flying Italian said after the match. "It's very hot here, but when you decide to come to Acapulco, you know what you're getting
- and you work so hard over the years to play in conditions like this, too."
Pennetta is the third Italian to reach the final four after Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani rolled past their opponents to book this spot.
"It's amazing - I hope one of us brings this trophy home," the second seed was quoted further.
The fourth seed, Irina-Camelia Begu, will occupy the fourth spot of the final four at this event. She slew the Slovakian rising star, Magdalena Rybarikova, with a breadstick in one hour and 14-minutes.
Begu dusted away three out of five breakpoints she came across and cashed in six out of eight break opportunities to seal the deal with a 6-1, 6-2 score line. She produced a higher first serve share and amazingly clicked 17 out of 34 points on it.
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