Francesca Schiavone survives Irina-Camelia Begu to reach the quarters – UNICEF Open 2012
Former French Open winner, Francesca Schiavone, saved eight match points against the 21-year-old Romanian, Irina-Camelia Begu, to reach the quarter-final stage of the UNICEF Open on Wednesday. She won the match 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(8)
in a brawl that lasted two hours and 23 minutes.
The opening set witnessed a tight battle at the start. Both players had strong command on their serves but the 63rd ranked Romanian fell apart in the fifth game; gifting a breakpoint to the senior contender. Schiavone
exerted more pressure on the youngster and clasped another breakthrough; lead the scores 5-2 and bagged the final serve game to love that rounded off the opening set in her favour.
Schiavone was expected to sustain the momentum but an early breakthrough for her rival suppressed her morale. She trailed 1-4 in the second set and was almost on the verge of losing another breakpoint in the following game but
did well to hang on. However, her resistance was crushed in the final game of the set when she was broken to love by the 21-year-old Romanian.
Stage was set for a classic final set battle. Both players started off with serve holds before exchanging break points in the following two games. Begu held her serve in the following game and both players swapped breakpoints to
further push the scores at 3-4. A very tight serve hold for the Italian levelled the scores at 4-4.
The Italian was under the cosh in the following serve game but saved breakpoints to hold serve. A tie-breaker round was enforced to decide the set. Begu started off well and took a lead of 6:1 in a tie-break. She had six match
points at that time but the Italian somehow fought back and clinched triumph in the end.
In a post-match interview, the 31-year-old Italian said, “When I started the tie-break, I said 'Francesca, come on, pay attention and take two or three of the first six or seven points.’ I went to the other side and told myself
there is not too big a difference in winning or lose one point, so keep going and push. We will see what happens. And then I won."
"I'm really happy to play against her. I think it's a fantastic opportunity for both of us to play a high-level match before a Grand Slam and get more time in on the grass." She commented about her next competitor, the former world
number one, Kim Clijsters.
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