Kaia Kanepi edges past Dinah Pfizenmaier into final eight – OrtoLaakarit Open 2011
Top seeded Estonian Kaia Kanepi fended off early resistance to dump the German qualifier Dinah Pfizenmaier in straight sets at the OrtoLaakarit Open 2011, an ITF Women’s Circuit event taking place at the hard courts in Helsinki,
Finland. She manipulated a 7-6(7), 6-4 success over the 19-year-old German to book a quarter-final spot on Thursday.
The highest ranked player of the tournament, Kanepi tumbled over the German, ranked 274th in the Sony Ericsson WTA Premier rankings, in straight sets. Meeting for the first time, she secured a last eight place by overpowering
Pfizenmaier in an hour and thirty-three minutes long marathon.
The Haapsalu native, Kanepi confidently marched into the Finn hard courts and smoothly kept her serve in the opening game. She then got the first blood in the fourth game and eventually went 4-1 up. The Estonian, however, squandered
her edge in the ninth game and subsequently dragged the set to a tie-breaker. She dominated in it and clinched the opening set with a 7-6(7) score line.
Kanepi committed more errors and a lower first serve share of 51 percent as compared to the German’s 59 percent. However, she registered an impressive 77 percent win on it. The Estonian dusted away three out of four breakpoints
came across and cashed in the only breakpoint opportunity to her advantage.
26-year-old raised the bar of her game in the final set as she quickly swiped in entire serves after defending all three breakpoints faced. The Estonian then put a cherry on the set by cashing in the only breakpoint opportunity
to her advantage in the seventh game, sealing the set with a 6-4 victory.
Kanepi again formulated a lower first serve share of 55 percent as opposed to Pfizenmaier’s 60 percent but earned a plausible 65 percent win on it.
A former world number sixteen, Kanepi will next confront Russian qualifier Daria Gavrilova who made an epic comeback to overpower a local wild card enterer Piia Suomalainen in a three set thriller.
17-year-old Gavrilova lost the opener after losing her serve twice but bounced to pull out a victory in one hour and forty-seven minutes. She fended off eight out of twelve breakpoints came across and capitalised on five out of
thirteen breakpoint chances to her advantage, sealing the deal with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory on their first encounter. The Russian manifested a lower first serve share of 61 percent in contrast with the Finn’s 69 percent but registered a convincing 59 percent
win on it.
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