Francesca Schiavone trounces over Galina Voskoboeva to reach the quarters – Brisbane WTA 2012
Third seed, Francesca Schiavone, trashed Kazakh Galina Voskoboeva in straight sets at the Brisbane International 2012, a warm-up tournament for the Australian Open and the first WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) event of the season.
She formulated a 6-4, 6-4 victory over the 27-year-old Kazakh to book a spot among the last eight on Tuesday.
World number 11, Schiavone remove her flaws from their last encounter and eventually registered a straight set victory over the Kazakh, ranked 47 spots below her in the WTA Premier Rankings, at this hard court tournament held in
Brisbane, Australia. She extended her lead in the head-to-head series by 2-0 against the Kazakh and comfortably advanced into the quarter-finals.
Italian number one high-spiritedly entered the opening set and held her serve in the second game to tie the scores at 1-1. She drew the first blood in the fifth game and put her nose ahead for the first time in the match. Despite
of squandering her lead in the following game, Schiavone capitalised on another break opportunity in the ninth game and eventually clinched the set by winning six games to four.
A former world number four, Schiavone, kept momentum rolling into the final set and smoothly plucked in entire serves. Later she capitalised on another break opportunity in the second last game and bagged the set with a 6-4 win
again.
Summing up the Italian’s performance in this one hour and 26 minutes long match, Schiavone blocked eight out of nine breakpoints she came across by her mind-blowing agility and defensive skills. On the other hand she cashed in
half of the six break chances and smashed six aces to prevail.
"After so long, you want that feeling of really winning a match. It was a great sensation today," the blooming Italian said. "I worked hard in the off-season, physically and mentally. I was working on improving the overall quality
of my tennis. I did my best every day, so it's great to be here and in the quarterfinals now."
Schiavone will next face the sixth seed, Jelena Jankovic, on Thursday. The Serbian seed dusted away six out of eight breakpoints she came across and cashed five out of seven break chances, clinching the match with a 6-3, 6-2 score
line on Wednesday.
"Jelena is a great player. We played a couple of times last year and had great matches," the Italian said about her next opponent. "It's always tough to play her. She's consistent. I think my play can hurt her."
In my opinion, the Italian needs to lift up her game and should not concede breakpoints. She manipulated a higher first serve share of 55 percent in this match but Schiavone needs to formulate a better share than this if she desires
an comprehensive victory in the next encounter. However, her ace hitting skills will help her dominate a former world number one, Jankovic.
The Kazakh on the other side made an exceptional start of the season as she destroyed the Russian qualifier, Vera Dushevina, with double bagels. She was outclassed by the Italian number one in this match regardless of seeking nine
break opportunities. However, if Voskoboeva needs to progress further, she should improve her breakpoint conversion skills.
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