Francesca Schiavone crushes Mirjana Lucic to reach quarters – Internationaux de Strasbourg 2012
Former world number four, Francesca Schiavone, devastated the Croatian qualifier, Mirjana Lucic, with a breadstick at the Internationaux de Strasbourg 2012 on Wednesday. She juggled up a 6-1, 6-2 success against the German-born Lucic to cruise into the quarter-finals at this clay court event held in Strasbourg, France.
The second seed proved her class and dumped Lucic in straight sets in an hour-long venture. After earning this victory in their second meeting, Schiavone not only extended her lead in the head-to-head series by 2-0 against the Croat but also booked a spot in the final eight.
"When I switched on my mobile, I had received like 30 messages from my friends about my win," the delighted Italian commented in a post match interview. "When I go home and go to dinner with everybody, people say I'm sad. I say, 'I keep losing first round. Should I be happy?' Now they are writing for me to keep going and win more."
Schiavone ruled throughout the opening set and after displayed awe-inspiring skills, she pulled out the opener with a breadstick. After Lucic held her opening serve in the first game, the Italian unleashed flurry of groundstrokes and went on a six-game killing spree. She blocked the lone breakpoint she faced and converted three out of five break chances to her advantage.
Currently ranked 14th in the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Rankings, Schiavone maintained her intensity in the following set and bagged the opening three games in a row before the Croat could hold on. She then held remaining serves and cashed in her second break chance in the last game, eventually sealing the set by winning six games to two.
Overall, the 31-year-old took full advantage of the 10 double faults her rival spilled. She also smashed five aces and produced a better first serve share of 55 per cent as compared to the Croat’s 43 per cent. Schiavone also amazingly availed 21 out of 26 points on it and clicked the match with 58 points.
Next in queue for the Italian veteran is the Swedish contestant, Johanna Larsson, who stunned eighth seeded Tamira Paszek with a bagel to set up this date.
The only other seed who will join Schiavone in the quarters is the Spanish number one, Anabel Medina Garrigues. The fourth seed triumphed over the Taiwanese star, Su-Wei Hsieh, in two set’s tiebreaker to advance at this WTA International level tournament.
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