Irina Khromacheva, Monica Puig make their way into Girls' Singles semi-final - French Open 2011
Number two seed Irina Khromacheva of Russia floored Estonian tennis-pro Anett Knotaveit 6-4, 6-1 to book a semi-final berth at 2011 girls’ singles French Open in Paris. The 16-year-old made a slow start but as the match progressed
she was able to find her game and played a few breath taking shots all over the court.
Khromacheva looked a bit out of sorts as the match started. She suffered a serve break early in the opening set and soon found her trailing the game score by 3-1 in the set. However, from there on she picked herself up and displayed
some high quality tennis. Making three straight serve breaks, she established complete control over the contest. Having taken a 5-4 lead, she served for the set and claimed four straight points to bag the opener 6-4.
The following set, however, proved to be a one sided affair as not much resistance was offered by Knotaveit. Having gained the psychological advantage over her opponent, Khromacheva continued to play her natural game with freedom
and broke the serve at regular intervals to race to a 5-1 lead in the set. Converting her next service game successfully, the Russian ended the match in straight sets.
Ranked 520th in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings, Khromacheva has been in decent form since the tournament has started and will certainly fancy her chances of lifting her first Majors trophy. She possesses a very
strong backhand shot which she can use to penetrate her opponent’s game. However, to make it all the way here at Roland Garros, she must try and bring more consistency in her serve as she struggled with her first serve conversion throughout the tournament.
Her semi-final opponent will be number three seed Caroline Garcia who eased past Yulia Putintseva 6-2, 6-4.
Monica Puig also reached the semi-final of Prestigious Grand Slam tournament with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over number four seed Serbian Natalija Kostic.
With an impressive 58 percent first serve conversion, the Portuguese tennis-pro was able to take control of rallies in the match. Making the most of her chances in the match, she converted six out six break points. Kostic struggled
in that department and managed to convert only two out of break chances she had in the match.
Puig played a very attacking game and pressurised her opponent by coming close to the net every now and then. She also used her drop shot to great effect fooling the challenger on a number of occasions. She will take on second
seed Irina Khromacheva in the semi-final.
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