Flavia Pennetta outplays Shuai Peng to reach the quarter-finals – US Open 2011
World number 25, Flavia Pennetta of Italy, kept her clean record against the 13th seed Chinese contestant, Shuai Peng, defeating her in the fourth round of the US Open on Sunday afternoon.
Being played at the Louis Armstrong Stadium of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Park, of Queens, New York City, United States, the 26th seed Italian stood victorious in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6(6), taking two hours and thirty one minutes of play.
It was the 28th victory for Pennetta in the running WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) season, earning her a berth in the quarter-final round of the last Grand Slam tournament of the year. The Italian provider an absolute shocker when she defeated the world number four, Maria Sharapova of Russia, in the third round of the tournament and kept on with her winning impetus to ease past Peng to reach the round of eight.
The 14th ranked Chinese has suffered her third consecutive defeat at the hands of Pennetta in the US Open encounters. The Italian now leads the head-to-head record against Peng by 5-0, with four victories in the Grand Slam events.
Pennetta served with 57 per cent precision and fired nine thudding aces in the matchup, while cracking in 41 winners to seal victory. Both contestants secured 36 first serve points each in the match but the Italian kept on collecting crucial points in the game to come out as the winner in the end. She had her chance to close out victory earlier in the second set but the determined Chinese nailed a critical serve break to drag the set in to a tie breaker round, which Pennetta eventually won to conclude victory.
“My body just needed to breathe, and I started to maybe feel like throwing up. But there was nothing inside so it didn’t come out,” Pennetta said in her post match reviews. “I was feeling really bad. I think it was because it’s really humid today, it’s hot. It’s one of the worst times I've ever had on the court. But I just believed the whole time.”
The 26th seed Italian bagged the opening set at 6-4 by nailing two vital serve breaks and kept on with her momentum in the following set reach her first match point at 6-5 40-30, but squandered it away to enter the tie breaker round. Pennetta closed out victory in the decisive tie breaker at 7-6(8), to book a date with the unseeded German, Angelique Kerber, in the quarter-final round.
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