Klara Zakopalova defeats Kateryna Bondarenko to breeze into the semis – Budapest Grand Prix 2011
Third seeded Czech Klara Zakopalova swat past Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko with a bagel at POLI-FARBE Grand Prix, a clay court tournament held in Budapest, Hungary. She barely sweated in the opening set to register a 6-0, 6-4
victory over the 24-year-old Ukrainian to advance into the semi-finals on Friday.
World number thirty-six, Zakopalova eased past Ukrainian, ranked sixty-six places below her, in straight sets on their second meeting. After earning this success, she not only took revenge for her loss at Dubai five years ago but
also levelled the head-to-head series by 1-1 against Bondarenko.
The Prague resident stormed into the opening set and unleashed a barrage of groundstrokes to reel off all six games in a row. She clobbered a higher first serve share of 75 percent as compared to Ukrainian’s 59 percent and registered
an amazing 75 percent win on it. To spice the set further, Zakopalova faced zero breakpoint and converted three out of five breakpoint chances to her advantage to earn the bagel in under half hour.
The Czech kept momentum floating into the second set as she held her opening serve comfortably. Later, she lost her serve once but broke Bondarenko’s serve twice to eventually seal the set with a 6-4 score line. Zakopalova clobbered
a lower first serve share of 59 percent as opposed to Ukrainian’s 76 percent but she registered an impressive 65 percent win on it. The Czech saved one out of two breakpoints conceded and converted two out of four breakpoint chances to her advantage.
29-year-old Zakopalova is in good shape this season so far. She made a semi-final berth at Hobart and then reached quarter-finals at Doha, Marbella, Estoril and Prague before falling to a four match losing streak. She raised her
form at Wimbledon where she made a third round shown before entering this WTA Premier event. Zakopalova has yet to lose a set in this tournament and is currently playing her best tennis.
The Czech will next face the highest ranked player of this event, Roberta Vinci who made an epic comeback from just two points from losing the match to a 4-6, 7-6(3),6-3 win over the Ukranian Zuzana Kucova in two hours and seventeen
minutes.
"I'm really happy I turned the match around. It was a great victory for me," the beaming Vinci said after the match.
The top seeded Italian saved six out of eleven breakpoints conceded and capitalised on five out of thirteen breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to seal the match. She clobbered a lower first serve share but earned a plausible
58 percent win on it.
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