Flavia Pennetta produces her best to subdue sublime Mathilde Johansson – XXIV SNAI Open 2011
Even by her own sky-high standards this year, standards that up to the Collector Swedish Open included a 19/12 win/loss mark this year, Flavia Pennetta reached new heights yesterday.
In a thrilling entertaining match against Mathilde Johansson of Sweden, the Italian produced the best clay-court tennis of her career to reach the quarterfinals of the tournament here in Palermo, Italy.
It was certainly not hard to believe, that the crowd in Palermo was witnessing some awe-inspiring tennis action by two of the best tennis athletes on tour. If the Italian had needed her A-game to overcome the troublesome compatriot,
Anastasia Grymalska in the first round, here she found her A-Plus game, at first matching, then overwhelming and finally again overwhelming the callously competitive French woman, with a breathtaking display of alacrity, shot-making and perfect fidelity to
her game.
After suffering the first set with indignity, the top-seeded Italian finally prevailed 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in a shade over two hours and 50 minutes of play.
The home hope would probably had scared her fans to death at the beginning, but later she proved to have nerves of steel and faced her opponent bravely enough, winning the match in a three-set marathon.
The Frenchwoman on the other hand, for the most part of the match, played on equal terms, although she did not catch her breath, once she lost the second set with five games to seven.
Nevertheless, it was the excellence of the Frenchwoman, whose only win in the previous three encounters did not, unfortunately for her, including their last clash at the 2008 Vina Del Mar, that forced Pennetta to such an unprecedented
level.
With Johansson already at 5-4, Pennetta’s forehand began to show signs of vulnerably, allowing the Frenchwoman to grab the first-set lead. At that point her passage to the quarterfinals looked obvious, as she had clinched the opener
in a double-quick time. In short, the French No.3 mastered the unexpected, but the great unexpected was yet to come, when Pennetta started to test the brilliance of the dedicated world No 67, being more than up to the task, and putting her shoulders to the
wheel and getting the job done in 170 minutes of play.
She now moves on to play sixth-seeded Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria in the quarterfinals of the tournament here in Palermo, Italy.
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