Garrigues/Pennetta outlast Goerges/Stosur to reach quarters – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
Spanish-Italian duo, Anabel Medina Garrigues and Flavia Pennetta, bounced back to outclass the German-Australian tandem, Julia Goerges and Samantha Stosur, in a three set thriller at the Sony Ericsson Open 2012 on Monday. They nudged up a 6-7(4), 6-2, 11-9
victory over their opponents to secure a place in the final eight at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Mandatory event held at Key Biscayne in Miami.
Garrigues and Pennetta remained firm throughout the match, ultimately pulling out the victory in almost one and half hour. They raised the bar of their game after the tie-breaker of the opening set and then maintained consistency in their game in the final
set to outgun their rivals.
The German-Australian collaboration made a nervy start at Key Biscayne and after gifting away their serve in the seventh game, they went 3-5 down. However, they not only levelled the scores in the tenth game but exchanged a serve break to impose a tie-breaker.
Goerges and Stosur edged past their rivals in it and clinched the opener with a 7-6(4) score line.
The Spanish-Italian junction made a fitting reply in the follow-up set and after getting the coveted break in the second game, they leaped to a 2-0 lead. The high flying pair then exchanged two serves and went 4-2 up. Garrigues and Pennetta capitalised on
another break chance in the last game and pulled out the equaliser by winning six games to two.
Garrigues and Pennetta kept momentum rolling in the super tie-breaker and after showing brilliant skills, they sealed the decider with an 11-9 score line.
Overall, the Spanish-Italian collaboration produced a lower first serve share of 52 per cent in contrast with their opponents’ 75 per cent but superbly availed 23 out of 37 points on it. They also spilled fewer double faults and ended the match with 75 points.
Up next for the winning team is the American-Romanian junction of Vania King and Monica Niculescu. King and Niculescu stunned the seventh seeded Kazakhs, Yaroslava Shvedova and Galina Voskoboeva, in straight sets. They broke the seeds’ serve seven times
and got broken down four times, ultimately registering a 7-5, 6-2 score line.
The wild card entrants, Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Czech Republic’s Lucie Safarova, will accompany the Spanish-Italian tandem in the next round. They crushed the Spanish duo of Nuria Llagostera Vives and Arantxa Parra Santonja with a breadstick
on one hour and 17 minutes to steal the show.
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