Francesca Schiavone bows out to Ekaterina Makarova in round one – Internazionali BNL D’Italia 2012
Italian number one, Francesca Schiavone, crashed out by the Russian rising star, Ekaterina Makarova, in straight sets in front of her home crowd on Monday. She suffered a 3-6, 4-6 shock at the hands of the world number 39 in the opening round of Internazionali BNL D’Italia, a WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Mandatory event held in Rome, Italy.
The clay specialist carried her drastic form at this red clay court event and eventually exited by the 23-year-old in their third outing. Schiavone has now lost 10 of her last 12 matches.
The former Roland Garros titlist, Schiavone made a terrible entry at Foro Italico and suffered the first blow in the opening game to fall at 0-2. The Italian swiped in her following serves until she lost her serve again in the ninth game, ultimately bearing a 3-6 defeat.
Schiavone re-focused in the opening half of the proceeding set and swiped in her serves until she was broken down in the eighth game. Despite recovering in the very next game, the Italian lost her serve once more and endured a 4-6 loss.
All in all, the Italian veteran displayed poor performance throughout the battle. She clobbered a lowered first serve share of 63 per cent as compared to her rival’s 75 per cent and amazingly clicked 18 out of 34 points on it.
The left-handed Russian on the other end not only lowered her trail in the head-to-head series by 1-2 against Makarova but also powered into the round of 32. She will next face the conqueror of the match between Romania’s Simona Halep and the former world number one, Venus Williams.
The 13th seed, Ana Ivanovic, faced a better fortune earlier that day. She overpowered the former world number two, Svetlana Kuznetsova, in straight sets in one hour and 17 minutes. The Serbian lost her serve twice but cashed in all five break chances to jolt down a 6-4, 6-3 score line.
The Serbian number one will next face the conqueror of the match between Spanish qualifier Silvia Soler-Espinosa and the local wild card entrant, Alberta Brianti.
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