Klara Zakopalova downs Aleksandra Krunic in 2nd round – POLI-FARBE Budapest Grand Prix 2011
Third seed, Czech Republic’s Klara Zakopalova triumphed over Serbian qualifier Aleksandra Krunic in straight sets at POLI-FARBE Grand Prix 2011, a WTA Premier International event held on the clay courts in Budapest, Hungary. She
registered a 7-5, 7-5 win over the 18-year-old Serbian to advance into the last eight on Wednesday.
World number thirty-six, Klara Zakopalova took two hours and seven minutes to overpower the qualifier, ranked 211 places below her, in their first meeting. She lost an early serve but bounced back to not only win the match in straight
sets but also book a final eight spot in this event.
29-year-old Czech confidently entered the court and held her serve in the first game through a cross court winner down the line. After she exchanged an early break, Zakopalova lost her serve and was trailing 4-5 when she re-focused
to snatch the break back and levelled the scores at 5-5. The Czech then maintained consistency in her game to keep her serve in the proceeding game and eventually seal the set with a 7-5 score line by breaking youngster’s serve again in the last game.
The Czech kept her momentum rolling into the final set as she smoothly held her opening serve in the first game. After Zakopalova held her second serve, she got the desiderated break to take the lead by 3-1. The higher ranked,
however, lost her serve in the very next game and exchanged another break in the ninth and tenth game to keep the scores squared at 5-5. She again held her serve in the eleventh game and broke the teenager’s serve in the last game to clinch the set with a
similar score line of 7-5 again.
The Prague native has had a monotonous season so far as she made a semi-final berth at Hobart and reached quarter-finals at Doha, Marbella, Estoril and Prague. She then fell to a three match losing streak but rose her form at Wimbledon
before losing to finalist, Maria Sharapova in straight sets in the third round.
Up next for the Czech is Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko who trashed her compatriot, Olga Savchuk in straight sets to secure this final eight spot.
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