Karin Knapp upsets Roberta Vinci to round two – Internazionali BNL D’Italia 2012
In an all-Italian battle, wildcard Karin Knapp shocked her compatriot, Roberta Vinci, in a three-set thriller at the Internazionali BNL D’Italia 2012 on Tuesday. She summed a 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 victory against the world number 19 in front of their home crowd to labour into the second round at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Five event taking place in Rome, Italy.
Knapp showed her best tennis and eventually stunned the Taranto native in their second meeting. The contestants previously battled each other at the Palermo WTA event and after earning this two hours and 15-minute success, she improved to a 2-0 lifetime in the head-to-head series against her fellow citizen.
The 24-year-old made quick in-roads at Foro Italico and smoothly pocketed the opener with a 6-4 win. She suffered the first blow in the fifth game but quickly recovered in the very next game. Knapp got the breakthrough in the last game and inched towards the glory.
The veteran on the other hand brought her experience into handy in the second set. After Knapp held her serve in the third game, the 29-year-old blasted massive forehands and went on a five-game rampage. She was never challenged with any breakpoint and cashed in both break opportunities to seal the equaliser by winning six games to two.
Ranked 112th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Knapp re-gained her early ascendancy and dominated the final set. After the higher ranked Italian slid her serve in the fourth game, Knapp unleashed her skills to reel off the last four games. She dusted away both breakpoints she came across and capitalised on two out of six break chances to clinch the decider with a 6-2 score line.
All in all, Knapp spilled six double faults and produced a slightly lower first serve share of 59 per cent as compared to her rival’s 62 per cent. However, she superbly availed 39 out of 57 points on it and finished the match with 95 points.
Next up for the wildcard is the 14th seed, Dominika Cibulkova, who crippled Croatian qualifier, Mirjana Lucic, with a breadstick to set-up this outing.
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