France’s Marion Bartoli defeats Russia's Alisa Kleybanova at the Qatar Ladies Open
France’s Marion Bartoli overpowered the Russian Alisa Kleybanova by straight sets of 7-5, 6-2 at the Qatar Ladies Open on 21
February, 2011. The game was exciting, as both players fought hard for a win to advance further in the tournament.
Bartoli, the 2007 Wimbledon finalist, double faulted five times and was broken twice but she managed to take control over the opening set. She hammered 1 ace and broke the serve three times to get her nose ahead in this set and eventually won it. She produced
a higher first serve percentage of 61 per cent to Kleybanova’s 53 per cent. Bartoli earned an impressive 68 per cent win on it, as her return point winning percentage of 47 per cent was also acceptable to the Russian’s 44 per cent.
The Russian tried to hold the in-form Bartoli back and was able to win two games by aiming her large fore-hands towards Bartoli’s back-hand. The scores were levelled at 2-2, as Bartoli unleashed her flurry of ground-strokes to win the next four games. Overall,
she broke the Russian’s serve twice and hammered one ace to clinch the set. Her first serve percentage of 57 per cent was comparatively lower to Kleybanova’s 59 per cent, as she registered an amazing 75 per cent win on it. Bartoli’s return point winning percentage
of 50 per cent was astonishing in contrast to Russian’s 24 per cent.
"It was a windy day and that's why I took time to settle down," Bartoli said. "I had a bad start but managed to find my rhythm in the second set."
Bartoli has managed to maintain a ranking at number 17 among the Women’s Tennis Association rankings. She has been taking care of her results with a consistent display of performances and has a 60 per cent winning record for her last ten matches. She has
reached the semi-finals of Brisbane and the Quarter-finals of Hobart. Bartoli was unable to achieve any success in the the Australian Open, but managed to reach the third round at Dubai.
The world number 22, Kleybanova, also has a 60 per cent winning record for her last ten matches, but has not churned out great results this season. She lost in the first and the second round of Brisbane and the Melbourne Grand Slam. Kleybanova reached the
semi-final of the Sydney tournament and recently lost to 11th seed, Flavia Pennetta in the quarter-finals at the Dubai WTA Premier.
After winning this match, the former world number nine, Bartoli extended her head-to-head series by 4-0.
Bartoli will be facing either eighth seed Israeli Shahar Peer or the in-form Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova. If she continues to play like this, she can definitely overpower anyone. It will be exciting to see how far Bartoli will carry her winning momentum
in this tournament.
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