Garrigues/ Pavlyuchenkova battle past Azarenka/ Kirilenko into last eight – China Open 2011
Espanola Anabel Medina Garrigues with Czech Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova gobsmacked the fifth seeded team of Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko in the second round of the doubles China Open 2011. The squads battled for one hour
and thirty eight minutes on outdoor hard courts of the National Tennis Center in Beijing, China. Garrigues and Pavlyuchenkova outclassed the fifth seeded duo by surviving a mid match slip of 6-2, 4-6, 10-6.
Initiating the opening set was Garrigues/ Pavlyuchenkova and although they were broken in the first game, they were quick to steal a game from their opponents to tie the score at 1-1 after the second game. The score progressed
on even terms as in the following two games the players again held serve and tied the score at 2-2. By the fifth and the sixth game, first to capitalize on a break was Garrigues/ Pavlyuchenkova to take the lead at 4-2. In the last two games they not only held
serve but again broke Azarenka/ Kirilenko to clog the opening set and were now one up in the match.
After taking a beating in the first set, the fifth seeded players had learnt their lesson and opening the second set was again Garrigues/ Pavlyuchenkova. In the first two games the players broke each other back-to-back and evened
the score at 1-1. Matching a blow for a blow the players held serve in the next two games and the score again levelled at 2-2. During the last four games Azarenka/ Kirilenko broke Garrigues/ Pavlyuchenkova twice to seal their victory with a deftly 6-4.
By the end of the second set the players each had bagged a game and the match went into a super tie breaker and this was the final deciding Factor. Opening the decisive super tie breaker was Garrigues/ Pavlyuchenkova and matching
a blow for a blow the players kept going at each other, with neither wanting the other to take the lead and the score tied at 2-2 in the first four games. The toe-to-toe run carried well into the next four games and the score levelled at 4-4. In the following
two games the players broke each other back-to-back and the score progressed on even terms at 5-5 and then 6-6. In the last four games Garrigues/ Pavlyuchenkova broke their opponents twice to clinch a 10-6 victory in the super tiebreaker.
In doing so the unseeded team of Garrigues/ Pavlyuchenkova were able to shock the fifth seeded team of Azarenka/ Kirilenko. Next up for Garrigues/ Pavlyuchenkova is the top seeded team of Kveta Peschke with Katarina Srebotnik.
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