Kaia Kanepi halts Heather Watson to advance into the third round – French Open 2011
Sixteenth seed Kaia Kanepi of Estonia put an end to the great run of the booming qualifier, Heather Watson from Britain on Thursday. The Estonian earned a straight set victory over the 19-year-old British to advance into the third
round of the 2011 Roland Garros, second of the four Grand Slam event held in Paris, France.
World number 16, Kanepi barely sweat in the opening set and easily sealed the deal in sixty-seven minutes to down Watson, ranked 101 places below her. She faced Watson for the first time and after this victory at Stade Roland Garros,
the Estonian took the lead in the career head-to-head.
25-year-old Estonian stormed into the opening set and broke Watson’s serve in the very first game. She then carried her winning ways until the British woman held her serve in the third game. Kanepi went on savage mode after that
and unleashed flurry of ground strokes to reel off proceeding four games in a row. She bagged a breadstick in just thirty-four minutes.
Kanepi high spiritedly entered the final set and kept her entire serves convincingly. She converted the only breakpoint opportunity to her advantage in the fifth game to edge past Watson with a 6-3 score line.
Overall, the Estonian produced an acceptable first serve share of 54 percent as compared to British woman’s slightly higher 56 percent. She also registered an exceptional 81 percent win on it. Furthermore, she saved both breakpoints
faced and converted four out of eleven breakpoint opportunities to her advantage. Kanepi clobbered more unforced errors i.e. nineteen to Watson’s thirteen but hammered twenty-three winners to help win easily.
The British teenager had an awesome start in this major clay court event. She sailed into this spot without losing a set. On en-route to the second round, Watson overpowered Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru with a bagel, Australian
Sally Peers and Stefanie Voegele in the qualifiers. In the first round match, she slaughtered French wild card entrant, Stephanie Foretz Gacon with a breadstick at her home soil to reach this spot.
Kanepi on the other hand, had poor form this season except for making a semi-final berth at Paris. However, she got her game back at right moment and the right time, i.e. in this WTA Slam. The Estonian had now advanced into the
third round where she will face Russian Ekaterina Makarova.
The Russian reached this spot later that day after trashing Swede Johanna Larsson in straight sets on another court.
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