Irina Khromacheva sails into the quarterfinal of Girls’ Singles – French Open 2011
Number two seed Irina Khromacheva advanced into the quarterfinal of 2011 French Open with thumping 6-4, 6-2 victory over Donna Vekic of Croatia.
The Russian looked to assert dominance over her opponent right from the start of the match. With her strong ground play, she created a number of break chances in the first set. Taking full advantage of her opponent’s weak serve,
Khromacheva claimed more than 53 per cent of the points on the receiving end. Breaking the serve three times in the set, the Russian took a 5-3 lead in the set. She then held on to her next serve game quite comfortably to clinch the opener.
Vekic continued to struggle with her forehand and backhand shots in the following set as well and made a large number of unforced errors. Despite making two serve breaks in the set, the Croat failed to hold on to her game score
advantage and suffered three straight serve breaks to let her opponent end the match in straight sets. Khromacheva smashed a big forehand winner down the line to set up three match points and converted the second one with a lovely drop shot.
The Russian claimed more than 63 percent of the points on her opponent’s serve showing that she was on the offensive throughout the match. She made the most of the opportunities that were available to her converting seven out ten
10 break chances in the match.
However, Khromacheva had a lot of trouble with her serve as she managed to covert only 37 per cent of her first serve. To make it to the final stages of the Women’s Tennis Association tournament, the Russian must try and bring
consistency in her game as other top seeded players may not let her get away with her unforced errors.
Vekic, on the other hand, struggled in break points conversion department and converted only four out of eight break points. She will be hoping to make a strong comeback on her next WTA appearance.
Meanwhile, Portuguese tennis player Monica Puig defeated Ukrainian Sofiya Kovalets 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 to book her place in the quarterfinal of the girls’ singles tournament.
Seeded fifth at the tournament, Puig struggled to time the ball early on as she gifted points to her opponent. Kovalets wasted no chances as she broke the serve regularly to take the first set 6-4.
However, loss in concentration resulted in a disaster for Kovalets afterwards as Puid pocketed next twelve out fourteen games to seal the match. Kovalets had a number of break opportunities in the match but she failed to convert
them and hence paid the price.
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