Iveta Benesova ousts Virginie Razzano in the qualifying 2nd round – Rogers Cup 2011
On Sunday the 7th of August 2011 the Czech, Iveta Benesova had contested for the third time against the French, Virginie Razzano in the qualifying second round of the Rogers Cup 2011. They battled each other on hard courts at the Rexall Centre, York University in Toronto, Canada. The Czech won the first set 6-1, but in the second set Razzano retired because of an ongoing injury.
The two had had taken up the gauntlet for the first time at the Toray Pan Pacific Open, Tokyo, Japan in 2009, where, Benesova had won the match 3-6 7-6(5) 6-0. This year the Celestial Power had given another chance to the French to take her revenge at the Medi-bank International in Sydney, Australia. Hallelujah! Virginie Razzano won the match as her opponent retired. Both had equalized their head to head and this was their third meeting but because of an ongoing injury, Razzano had to withdraw herself midway through the match.
Razzano serving first; won the pitch and opened the set with an unsteady hand and struck five double faults all hitting the net; one wondered if she forgot to wear her spectacles.
However, she was unable to hit most of her opponent’s shots and her return serve was below the par and barely won a pathetic 30% of her total return points.
Additionally, with a trembling defence she was not able to save three out of the eight break points and instead, was not able to break her opponent even once.
The French, Benesova too had a failing accuracy and she struck three line faults but managed to hit forty five percent of her first serves on target.
The 28-year-old Czech had only managed to win 14 out of 20 service points, making it a grand seventy percent of the total service points in the set. She re-coiled most of her opponent’s shots like a board at the back of the net; her return serve was commendable and she secured 16 out of 28 points, which, were almost twice as many points as her opponents.
With a sturdy defence she was able to save both her break points and broke her opponent thrice. Hence, Iveta Benesova won the set because of her style and technique, restricting her French opponent to a single game point and won the set with 12 more points.
The French Razzano was unable to play the second set as she was in extreme pain because of her left thigh injury and eventually gave the match to her opponent.
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