Klara Zakopalova and Anastasiya Yakimova reach second round at the 2011 Estoril Open
Third seed Klara Zakopalova of Czech Republic secured a comfortable 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory over Spaniard Beatriz Garcia Vidagany on Tuesday to advance into the second round of 2011 Estoril Open in Portugal.
The two contestants exchanged several long rallies early in the opening set as a highly competitive battle took place. Serve breaks were traded by the two players and some crafty tennis was displayed. With the game score tied at
3-3, Zakopalova had another chance of breaking the serve. She successfully converted the first break point to earn 5-3 lead in the set. Zakopalova then claimed her next service game convincingly to take the set score lead 1-0.
The second set also followed a similar trend. After both players held on to their serve games successfully, the set went into a tie-breaker. Vidagany smashed a wonderful backhand winner to set three set points for herself. However
the excellence of Czech tennis-pro ensured a straight set victory for her. Zakopalova secured six consecutive points in the tie-breaker to end her opponent’s hopes for advancing at the Women’s Tennis Association tournament.
Ranked 34 in the world, Zakopalova served accurately and won crucial serve ace points. Her first serve point’s conversion was a satisfactory 60 per cent while she claimed 50 per cent of the points on return. Zakopalova made most
of the opportunities during the match by converting six out eight break points to solidify her position. Vidagany on the other hand failed to handle the pressure and leaked a number of unforced errors. The Spaniard paid heavily for her poor shorts selection
and weak defense.
Winner of two WTA titles, Zakopalova has been in decent form since the start of this season. She reached the semifinal in her first tournament of the year at Hobart. Zakopalova defeated number seed Marion Bartoli en route to the
semis. At the 2011 Qatar Ladies Open she made it to the quarterfinals. The Czech will be hoping to continue her good run on the tour as she bids for her third career triumph.
Meanwhile, qualifier Anastasiya Yakimova also booked a second round spot at the red clay courts tournament with a fortunate victory over Austrian Tamira Paszek 5-7, 4-0. Paszek had to retire after she caught a shoulder injury during
the second set.
Paszek broke the serve in third game of the opener and held on to her serve games to take the set 7-5. However in the following set, she felt pain in her shoulder and after consulting with her personal trainer she decided not to
continue. Yakimova will face Klara Zakopalova in her second round match-up.
Tags: