Galina Voskoboeva zaps Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarterfinal – Baku Cup 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011 was the start of the quarterfinal of the Baku Cup 2011. The quarter final was a close round of sets between both the players however; Galina won the match 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 at the Baku Tennis Academy, Baku,
Azerbaijan.
The two players Galina Voskoboeva and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova were not meeting for the first time. They had previously met on the red clay courts of Morocco at the SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in the Royal Tennis Club de Fès,
France, where Anastasia had won the match 6-1, 6-2. The Higher Power crossed their paths again at the Baku Cup 2011.
Galina won the toss; serving first with confidence, hit an ace and struck only one double fault whilst her opponent (Anastasia) was not able to serve an ace and her accuracy faltered, striking ten double faults it was as if the
ball was attracted to the net like two opposite poles of a magnet. Galina had only managed to win an above average fifty seven percent of her first serve opening the set along with an average return game. The set was a close tie between both the players; however,
luck was on Anastasia’s side and she won the set by winning the tie-breaker.
The second set saw a change of events and although, Anastasia performed better than the previous set, by not striking ten double faults instead she only struck five, out which three were line faults and the remaining hit the net.
She had a poor performance in her return serve and service. This too was a close match between the two players; however, Galina hung on in the set and fought back like as if her life depended on it, she was able to gain an upper hand because she did not commit
a single double fault and had won seventy five percent of her break points. Galina won the set with a mere three more points than Anastasia and finally managed to equalize the set score to 1-1.
This was the final deciding set of the match as to which player will take the cake. Serving first with enthusiasm and confidence was Galina as she had just equalized their set score card. She struck only one double fault and although
performed poorly on her first serve and return serve she played much better in the second serve and return serve. However, Anastasia performed relatively better in her first serve and return serve but her second serve and return serve were not up to the mark.
Additionally, this time she struck another twelve double faults all hitting the net! It was as if she thought her opponent was the net and not Galina! The crowd was in a fit of laughter, which was a little embarrassing for the fans and her. Although, Galina
had committed only one break point her opponent had committed three. Galina won the set because of a relatively better performance than her opponent, by showing consistency and definitely by not throwing so many double faults.
The world number 162, Galina, came back with a vengeance to win the match and to equalize their head to head score to 1-1. The Kazakhstani will now be facing the French Aravane Rezai or the Russian Ksenia Pervak in the semi final.
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