Kaia Kanepi stuns Francesca Schiavone in second round – Kremlin Cup 2011
Estonian Kaia Kanepi flabbergasted the fourth seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone by surviving a mid match crisis in the second round of the Kremlin Cup 2011. The two duelled on indoor hard courts of the Olympic Stadium in Moscow,
Russia. After a lengthy two hours and forty three minutes Estonian Kanepi got rid of the fourth seeded Italian by scoring 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(7) on Wednesday the 19th of October 2011.
The first round of the match was kicked off by Kanepi and even though, she got off to a bad start, she quickly got a hold of the set by breaking her adversary in the second game to place herself at 1-1 on the scoreboard. Kanepi
then held her serve in the third game and in the fourth capitalized from a breakpoint to take a mini lead of 3-1 on the scoreboard.
During the following two games the players had held serve and the scoreboard had shifted to 4-2 with Kanepi leading the set. However, the score was brought to a tie by the fourth seed Schiavone at the end of the eighth game by
breaking her adversary and then with a hold of serve.
At this stage in the match, the set could’ve titled either way but Kanepi was extremely lucky as she held her serve in the ninth game and in the tenth capitalized on a breakpoint to bag the opening set with a 6-4 victory.
The second round of the match was also initiated by Kanepi and she was unable to hold her serve and was also unable to capitalize on a breakpoint. On the contrary, Schiavone not only capitalized on the early but as she held her
serve the scoreboard had shifted to 2-0. Schiavone repeated the feat and futher increased her lead to 4-0 by the end of the fourth game.
It was in the fifth game that Kanepi made a return by holding her serve and placed herself on the scoreboard at 1-4. In the following two games the players held serve and the scoreboard had progressed to 5-2. Kanepi tried her best
to reduce the deficit and she eventually did at the end of the eighth game by breaking her adversary.
She completely closed in on the deficit at by the end of the tenth game as she broke her adversary for the second time. However, Kanepi slipped and double faulted on her second serve in the eleventh game, endorsing an extremely
pivotal break point to Schiavone, who then held her serve to bag the second set with a 7-5 score.
Opening the decisive set was Kanepi and she finally held her serve in the first game and comfortably placed herself on the scoreboard at 1-0. She then took a mini lead of 2-0 at the end of the second game by capitalizing on an
early break. However, Schiavone was quick to close in on the deficit at the end of the fourth game by breaking the Estonian and then with a hold of serve.
The two matched a blow for a blow and the score progressed on even terms as it tied at 3-3, then 5-5 and eventually the set was pushed into a tiebreaker as the two constantly bagged a service game on their respective serves.
Amidst the tie breaker the toe-to-toe run carried on and both the players matched an eye for an eye. Eventually with a succession of breaks and holds the score tied at seven points each by the end of the fourteenth point. However,
Kanepi shifted into top gear and cut the goose chase by clinching the tiebreaker at 9-7. The Estonian won the set and the match.
Next up for the unseeded Estonian is either sixth seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova or Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in the third round of the event.
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