Jie Zheng strikes downs Roberta Vinci in the 2nd round – Mercury Open 2011
Wednesday the 3rd of August, saw the continuation of the second round of the Mercury Open 2011. The Chinese, Jie Zheng and Roberta Vinci contested against each other at the La Costa Resort and Spa, Carlsbad, California.
The Chinese won the match 6-4, 6-2 in an exciting seventy nine minutes and seven seconds.
The two players had previously contested against each other in 2004. The first time both the players had met was on a clay court in Germany at the Berlin Open where Vinci won the match 6-4, 6-1. The Higher Power gave a chance to
Zheng to equalize the head to head and the two crossed paths again on the hard courts of the La Costa Resort and Spa at the Mercury Open 2011.
Serving first Zheng’s precession didn’t falter even once and she struck no double faults, she was able to win a commendable 79% percent on the first serves opening the set and also succeeded to impress with her return serve, winning
an average forty two percent of her total return points. Her defence did not topple and she saved a hundred percent of her break points but only managed to break her opponent once.
While her opponent (Vinci) served with a mediocre style she hit three aces and had fifty three percent of the first serves on target, she had achieved a commendable 58% of her total service points along with a deplorable 25% of
her total return points. Although, she was able to save 80% of her break points she won none and hence, lost most of her points due to a poor return and defence.
After plummeting in the first set, Roberta Vinci’s performance in her serve had further corroded, attaining only 35% of her total service points; while, she improved her total return points by 13% from the previous set. In addition,
her accuracy faltered this time and she committed two line faults. Due to a poor defence, she was not able to save her break points and instead only won one.
Mean while, Zheng had a consistent serve and return gave which won her points. She performed exceptionally on her serve by winning an eighty percent of the second serve opening the set along with a much improved performance on
her return serve and bagged twice as many points as her opponent’s. Although, she was unable to save one of two break points, she availed to break her opponent thrice.
In a nutshell, Zheng won because of her strong defence along with, availing every opportunity that came her way.
Winning straight sets 2-0 she managed to qualify into the third round where she will now be facing the Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova.
Tags: