Kateryna Bondarenko downs Nuria Vives to ease into the 2nd round – NURNBERGER Gastein Ladies 2011
Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko swat past Spaniard Nuria Llagostera Vives with a bagel at NURNBERGER Gastein Ladies 2011, an International level WTA event held in Bad Gastein, Austria. She barely faced any difficulty and registered
a 6-0, 6-4 score line to advance into the second round on Tuesday.
Bondarenko, ranked 88th in the Sony Ericson WTA Premier rankings, took just seventy-seven minutes to triumph over the Spaniard, ranked four places below her, on their third meeting. She displayed nerves of steel to keep
her winning record against Vives and extended her lead in their head-to-head series by 3-0.
The Kryvyi Rig native, Bondarenko went berserk into the opening set as she bombarded angled shots and powerful groundstrokes to reel off all six games in a row. The Ukrainian never faced any trouble and cashed in all three breakpoint
chances to her advantage to help earn the bagel. To spice the set further, she clobbered a much better first serve share of 60 percent as opposed to Vives’ 42 percent and registered a spectacular 89 percent win on it.
24-year-old faced some bumps in the final set as she lost her serve once and commit two double faults. However, Bondarenko converted two out of eleven breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to clinch with a 6-4 win. She again
produced a higher first serve share of 64 percent as compared to the Spaniard’s 43 percent and ruled over the court throughout the set.
A former world number twenty-nine, Bondarenko made a great start of the season after reaching the quarter-finals at Auckland. However, her form dipped afterwards and she exited from qualifiers or early rounds from all the events
she entered till Wimbledon. The Ukrainian re-kindled her spark and made a third round showing at the grass Grand Slam followed by a quarter-final berth at Budapest.
Up next for Bondarenko is the winner of the match between second seeded Australian Jarmila Gajdosova and Swede Johanna Larsson. She might have eased past the Spaniard but she had to gear up to face a seeded player in order to win
her maiden title of the year.
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