Flavia Pennetta overtakes Olivia Rogowska in the first round – Collector Swedish Open 2011
World number 21, Flavia Pennetta of Italy overcame Olivia Rogowska of Australia 6-2, 7-5 in the opening round of 2011 Collector Swedish Open, being played here at the clay courts of Bastad, Sweden.
Yet, even as Pennetta touched the heights many times, such was the quality of Rogowska’s resistance that a fight back was never out of the equation. It was a beautiful attrition as Rogowska had to save seven of thirteen break points
to stay in it, Pennetta just six, yet the match seemed far closer than that.
Several times Pennetta had Rogowska on her knees only to be hit by a counter of the highest quality. Some of the exchanges were awe-inspiring, with the error count low and winners ripping into clay millimetres from the line off
both wings.
Pennetta worked Rogowska’s backhand from the start while the stubborn right-hander from Melbourne played safe, often down the middle with pointed and classic ground stokes. At the net Pennetta mostly ruled as her shots carried
enough spin to push the Australian behind the baseline.
Even when the Australian could not convert her most of the chances, she continued to stretch Pennetta with the wide variety and strength of her play. The eighth game of the opener looked out of place, so wonderful were the skills
and stubbornness of the both players that they covered all corners of the court at an extremely fast speed with Rogowska flicking a backhand volley from nowhere and Pennetta finishing the point with a smash past Rogowska’s flailing racket.
Pennetta looked the stronger from the outset though, moving into a 4-0 lead as she broke the Australian serve.
While Rogowska was making numerous unforced errors, the Italian was playing at the top of her game, a forceful shot followed by a breathtaking forehand winner helping her to go 6-2 in the set score.
Then, as the second set was still a living piece of theatre, the Italian number two grabbed a break at the start after edging a lengthy game with a forehand pass, the Italian let out a scream of delight that indicated she was on
her way to a straight sets victory.
Emerging victorious, the Italian now leads their head-to-head series to 1-0, and now marches on into the second round of the tournament where she will meet Germany’s Angelique Kerber for the first time in her career.
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