Jelena Dokic upsets Francesca Schiavone at BMW Malaysian Open 2011
Australian Jelena Dokic bounced back from being one set down to beat Italian wildcard entrant Francesca Schiavone in the first round of the BMW Malaysian Open 2011 on Monday.
Dokic strained hard for almost two hours to overcome the top seeded wildcard 2-6, 7-6, 6-4, advancing to the second round of the tournament. It was Dokic’s first victory against a top five player since 2003, when she had defeated Kim Clijsters in Zurich.
The world number 91 was better than Schiavone in many segments of the game. The Aussie delivered 60 per cent of her first serves on target and struck eight aces. The Italian served just 52 per cent but she belted 11 aces in the match. Dokic converted 3 of
6 break chances while Schiavone squandered 6 break points out of 10.
The Aussie was a bit too ambitious with her serve and committed 15 double faults in the contest. This high error count would have definitely cost Dokic the match had she not struck an equally high number of winners.
“Francesca plays with a lot more topspin than other girls, and it was hard to get used to,” said Dokic after winning her match. “She was putting pressure on me, my serve was not working and I just made too many mistakes in the beginning.”
Schiavone was quick to take the lead in the first set and raced to 3-0 in the first ten minutes. Dokic’s worries got a breather as rain temporarily suspended the play. Resuming play after rain, the Australian held her serve for the first time in the match
and then broke back in the next game to cut the deficit to 2-3.
A third serve break from the Italian and five double-faults from Dokic closed the first at 6-2. The 27-year-old Aussie missed three break opportunities in the first error-ridden set.
Dokic’s errors kept flowing in the following set as three straight double-faults from her gifted the opening game to Schiavone. The Aussie broke right back in the next game to level the scores at 1-1. A series of ten consecutive serve holds were seen, dragging
the set in to a tiebreaker. Dokic played amazingly well in the tiebreaker and blew away her opponent. She merely gave one point to Schiavone and reeled off six straight points to bag the second set 7-6.
No serve break was witnessed in the decider until 2-2. A critical breakthrough for Dokic put her in the lead at 4-2. Schiavone frittered away a break opportunity in the following game and the Australian served out of the match with ease at 6-4.
This victory for Dokic improved her individual head-to-head record against Schiavone to 3-0.
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