Kateryna Bondarenko blasts past Carla Navarro to reach the semis – NURNBERGER Gastein Ladies 2011
Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko slew Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain with a breadstick at the NURNBERGER Gastein Ladies 2011 on Saturday. She barely broke sweat to register a 6-2, 6-1 victory over the 22-year-old Spaniard and advanced
into the last four of this International level WTA tournament held on the clay courts in Bad Gastein, Austria.
Ranked 88th in WTA rankings, Bondarenko eased past the Spaniard – ranked fifteen places below her, in straight sets on their first meeting. After earning this one hour and seventeen minutes success, she not only took
lead in the head-to-head series by 1-0 against Navarro but also secured a final four spot in this event. The Ukrainian was leading 5-2 when the match got suspended on Friday. After it resumed the next day, she outclassed the Spaniard completely and won seven
out of eight games played.
24-year-old Ukrainian went berserk into the opening set as she blasted powerful groundstrokes to reel off first four games in a row before losing her serve in the fifth game. She then held her serve in the seventh game to take
a 5-2 lead before the match got suspended. After it resumed, Bondarenko broke the Spanish youngster’s serve again and sealed the opener with a 6-2 win.
The Kiev resident Bondarenko perfected her winning ways into the final set. She unleashed flurry of groundstrokes again to wipe out first five games in a row before the Spaniard could hold on. The Ukrainian then held her serve
for one more time in the seventh game to clinch with a breadstick.
Overall, Bondarenko clobbered a much better first serve share of 76 percent as compared to Spaniard’s 61 percent and registered an impressive 57 percent win on it. She also cashed in 83 percent of breakpoint chances and saved amazing
89 percent breakpoints conceded.
Up next for the Ukrainian is the Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez who laboured into the last four spot after overpowering Austrian Yvonne Meusburger in a three set thriller.
28-year-old Spaniard saved eleven out of sixteen breakpoints faced and converted six out of nine breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to register a 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 score line in two hours and forty-seven minutes.
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