Kaia Kanepi outmuscles Sandra Zaniewska to clear round one – BNP Paribas Katowice Open 2013
Estonian veteran, Kaia Kanepi, had an excellent return to the professional circuit after her injury lay off and won her opening encounter against the local underdog contender, Sandra Zaniewska, on Tuesday. The world number 37 took
merely 54 minutes to wrap up her welcome victory with a double breadstick, 6-1, 6-1, to reach the second round of BNP Paribas Katowice Open.
It was Kanepi’s first match of the 2013 WTA season and she grabbed victory in the most convincing manner. She faced not a single challenge from Zaniewska and cruised through both sets to dispose of the 218th ranked Pole
opponent. Kanepi had a below average serve precision of merely 37 per cent but she secured 12 out of 15 points on it, breaking Zaniewska six out of 12 times en route to victory.
The contest took off with Zaniewska breaking the Estonian rival in the very first game. It was the only game she could won the set, as Kanepi launched her onslaught afterwards, going for a nine-game killing spree immediately afterwards.
She broke the Polish serve four times to rocket away to 6-1 in no time and got in the driving seat of the match.
Kanepi carried on her winning impetus and broke her opponent early to reach 3-0. Zaniewska finally won her second game of the match to take the scores to 1-3 but another cracking break point from the Estonian seed in the sixth
game turned the tables on her. Kanepi served out of the match at 5-1.
"I was a bit nervous at the beginning but it wasn't too bad," Kanepi said after the match. "It felt good to play again. My mistakes didn't bother me as much as they would have when I was in top form. I just went easy on myself
out there and I'm looking forward to my next match here in Katowice."
Kanepi will take on Karolina Pliskova in the next match to fight for a place in the quarter-finals of the tournament. "I'm not sure I've played against Pliskova before. I can't say much other than she has a big serve and hits hard,”
she said afterwards.
The top seed Petra Kvitova and the second seed Roberta Vinci are yet to play their opening games of the tournament.
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