Kirilenko/Petrova cripple Kuznetsova/Zvonareva to reach quarters – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
In an all-Russian duel, fifth seeded Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova blasted past their unseeded opponents, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva, with a breadstick at the Sony Ericsson Open 2012 on Tuesday. They jolted down a 6-1, 7-5 victory over their
compatriots to charge into the final eight at this hard court tournament taking place in Miami, United States.
The higher ranked Russians stayed focused throughout the match to pull out the victory in their first meeting. After earning this victory in one hour and 15 minutes, Kirilenko and Petrova advanced into the quarter-finals at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association)
Premier Mandatory event.
Kirilenko and Petrova made a wobbly entry at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park and suffered the first blow in the opening game. However, they made a fitting replay as they went on a six-game killing spree. Kirilenko and Petrova brilliantly brushed off five
out of six breakpoints they came across and converted three out of four break chances to their advantage.
The seeded Russians lost their track again in the following set and after losing their serve in the fourth game, they subsequently went 1-4 down. They rebounded after that and not only recovered in the seventh game but capitalised on another break chance
to leap at 5-4. Kirilenko and Petrova then exchanged a serve break before sealing the set by winning seven games to five.
Summing up the beaming Russians performance, Kirilenko and Petrova clobbered a better first serve share of 66 per cent in contrast with their fellow citizens’ 62 per cent and took full advantage of the seven double faults their opponents’ committed.
Up next for the fifth seeds are the wild card entrants, Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Czech Republic’s Lucie Safarova. The Russian-Czech tandem devastated the Spaniards, Nuria Llagostera Vives and Arantxa Parra Santonja, with a breadstick to set-up
this battle.
Later that day, sixth seeded Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci also earned the spotlight. The Italians got the better of the Russian-Chinese junction of Ekaterina Makarova and Jie Zheng in straight sets. The Italians broke their rivals serve three times to manifest
a 6-3, 6-3 success in 66 minutes.
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