Jie Zheng stuns fourth seed Petra Cetkovska in quarterfinal – HP Japan Open 2011
Unseeded Jie Zheng flabbergasted fourth seeded Czech Petra Cetkovska in the quarterfinal of the HP Japan Open 2011. The two competitors took up racquets on the outdoor hard courts of Utsubo Tennis Center in Osaka, Japan. After
a thrilling one hour and fifty eight minutes the Chinese underdog got the better of fourth seeded Czech by bouncing back from a set down with a 0-6, 7-5, 6-3 on Saturday the 15th of October 2011.
The first set of the match was initiated by Zheng, who had won the service toss and had opted to serve first. Zheng was unable to hold her serve of the first game and gifted away the opening game to her adversary, who not only
capitalized on an early break but also held her serve to take a 2-0 lead on the scoreboard.
Cetkovska again repeated the feat and had further increased her lead to a 4-0 by the end of the first four games. Zheng was unable to ease into the match and was extremely jittery which led her to double fault on her second serve
in the fifth game. In doing so; Zheng gave a crucial break to Cetkovska, who utilized that and then her serve to conquer the opening set with a bagel victory.
Commencing the second set was once again Zheng and finally this time she was able to hold her service game to open the scoreboard at 1-0. Right behind her was the fourth seeded Czech, who too held her serve and tied the score at
1-1. In the third game Zheng held her serve and the benefitted from a breakpoint to take a mini lead of 3-1.
However, Cetkovska was not going to let her edge go to waste and quickly broke Zheng immediately in the next game to reduce the deficit to 2-3 and by holding her serve in the sixth game; she rounded the score at 3-3. The players
again tied the score at 4-4 and 5-5 by holding two serves each at the end of the tenth game. During the last two games Zheng not only held her serve but capitalized on a heart stopping break and conquered the second set.
Each player had bagged a set at the end of the first two sets and opening for the decisive set was Zheng and both the players again held their serves to tie the score at 1-1, then 2-2. In the third game Zheng held her serve and
then capitalized from a break to take a mini lead of 4-2. By the end of the seventh game, she was only a game away from victory and she held serve in for the ninth game, she sealed her victory of the set and the match.
Next up for the unseeded Chinese is the top seed Samantha Stosur.
Tags: