Kirilenko/Petrova outplays King/Shvedova to reach the doubles semis – French Open 2012
While the Kazakh tennis sensation, Yaroslava Shvedova, attains her dream run in the singles category at the French Open, her doubles voyage was finally ended in the quarter-final round. The third seeded duo of Shvedova and Vania
King of America suffered a crushing straight sets defeat at the hands of the seventh seed Russian veterans, Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova, on Tuesday. The Russians settled final score line at 6-3, 6-4, in their favour, marching into the semi-final draw
of the clay-court Grand Slam event in Paris, France.
The third seeded Kazakh-American tandem was the hot favourite for winning the quarter-final brawl at the Court 1 of Stade Roland Garros but the outcome went completely against it. King and Shvedova have been phenomenal throughout
the mega event but couldn’t deliver their best against the vastly experienced Russians. Kirilenko and Petrova made it look so easy throughout the contest and cruised through the both sets with commanding ease to come out as the deserving winners.
King and Shvedova had a brilliant first serve precision of 73 per cent in the matchup but could barely secure 25 out of 40 points on it. They had three break opportunities in the entire contest, frittering away two precious chances
and converting just one to finish on the losing side in the end. The seventh seeded Russians nailed three out of seven break points and clinched 31 of the 41 first serve points to take the better of their opponents.
Kirilenko and Petrova won the toss to serve first in the match and suffered an early setback at the hands of the third seed. King and Shvedova broke their opponents in the very first game of the match and then held their own serve
to lead 2-0 straight up. A sudden momentum swing brought the Russians right on top, as they stung two successive break points to wrap up the opener at 6-3. Kirilenko and Petrova carried on with their winning roll in the following set and broke their opponents’
serve in the first game. The seventh seeded Russians held their initial lead intact and wounded up victory convincingly at 6-4 to reach the semis.
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