Francesca Schiavone overpowers Flavia Pennetta in opening brawl – BNP Paribas Open 2013
Former world number four, Francesca Schiavone, had an excellent beginning at her Indian Wells campaign by beating her fellow Italian compatriot, Flavia Pennetta, in the opening round on Wednesday. The unseeded veteran took one
hour and 49 minutes to register a 7-5, 6-1, score line to reach the second round of the BNP Paribas Open.
The opening set of the match witnessed intense battle between the two Italians. Schiavone delivered the first blow in the second game, igniting a series of serve breaks in the next three games. Two break point conversions from
both sides propelled the scores to 3-3 in the sixth game. Pennetta registered her third break point of the day in the seventh game and pounced to a 5-3 lead later. She was serving for the first set when Schiavone came out of nowhere to break her serve, levelling
the score line at 5-5. The 32-year-old veteran held her following serve and then nailed another cracking break of serve to seal the opening set at 7-5.
Once getting into her winning groove, Schiavone never looked back in the next set. She was off to a flyer, nailing two successive break points to race away to 5-0 in no time. Pennetta managed to win her lone serve game in the sixth
game but couldn’t restrain her Italian opponent to conclude her victory with a breadstick, 6-1.
Schiavone’s 68 per cent precise first serve earned her 37 out of 58 points in the match. On the other hand, Pennetta coughed nine double faults and barely managed to secure 12 out of 25 first serve points to finish on the losing
side. She had 14 break points but just converted three opportunities in the entire matchup.
The two experienced campaigners faced each other for the seventh time in their professional career and Schiavone broke the two-match winning streak of her rival this time round. Pannetta has been victorious in straight sets in
the last two meetings against Schiavone but couldn’t deliver her best in Wednesday’s matchup to crash out of the tournament in dismay. The 32-year-old Italian now leads 5-2 in the all-time head-to head series against her fellow compatriot.
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