Kaia Kanepi cripples Francesca Schiavone to secure a title-round spot – Brisbane International 2012
Estonian Kaia Kanepi slew the third seed, Francesca Schiavone, with a bagel at the Brisbane International 2012, a WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier event taking place on the hard courts in Brisbane, Australia. She barely
sweated to formulate a 6-3, 6-0 victory over the 31-year-old Italian to advance into the final on Friday.
After upsetting seventh seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and second seed Andrea Petkovic, the high flying Estonian went on to stun the third seed Schiavone with a bagel. She not only reduced the trail in the head-to-head series by
3-4 against the Italian number one but also inched closer to her second WTA title.
World number 34, Kanepi, stepped on the hard courts with conviction and drew the first blood in the third game to take lead for the first time in the set. She then maintained consistency in her game and plucked in remaining serves
to carry on her momentum in the contest. The Estonian then converted another break opportunity in the ninth game and sealed the opener by winning six games to three. She manipulated a much better first serve share of 74 percent as compared the Italian’s 53
percent and registered a perfect win on it.
The 26-year-old Estonian went berserk in the second set as she blasted powerful ground strokes and wiped out all six games in row, earning a bagel in less than half an hour. She again clobbered a higher first serve share and clinched
superb eight out of nine points on it.
Summing up the Estonian’s performance, she took full advantage of the several unforced errors and six double faults Schiavone coughed. She never faced any breakpoint and converted five out of eight break chances to her advantage.
"In previous years I've been a surprise player - I was able to beat higher ranked players, but then maybe lose to lower ranked players. Now I'm playing more stable, not making as many errors, and beating top players more consistently,”
Kanepi said after the match.
Next challenge for the blooming Kanepi is the unseeded Slovak, Daniela Hantuchova, who earned a retirement victory over the Belgian number one, Kim Clijsters, to reach this spot.
"I have to play my own game - be aggressive, be patient, serve well - I have to do everything well," the Estonian said of the title-round. "At the beginning of the year everyone is trying to find their game, and whoever finds it
faster goes far."
The Slovak saved ten out of twelve breakpoints she came across and cashed in half of the six break chances to her advantage, earning a 6-7(4), 3-1 retirement victory over the fifth seed.
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