Klara Zakopalova upsets Flavia Pennetta in the first round – New Haven Open 2011
A surprise for the Italian tennis fans, as the world number 27, Flavia Pennetta, crashed out of the opening round of New Haven Open at Yale, at the hands of the 44th ranked Czech competitor, Klara Zakopalova., on Sunday
afternoon.
At the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Series event being played at the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center in New Haven, Connecticut, United States, Zakopalova outshined the Italian competitor in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2, to
make it to the second round. The contest lasted for one hour and twenty three minutes, with the Czech competitor registering her 26th victory of the running WTA season.
Zakopalova finally avenged her defeat from Pennetta, which she suffered in the round of 32 at Dubai earlier this year, submitting the contest at 7-5, 1-6, 2-6. Pennetta still leads the all-time head-to-head series against the Czech
but Zakopalova improved it to 3-5 with her Sunday’s victory.
The contest witnessed a hard-fought opening set, followed by a comprehensive second set victory by the Czech competitor. Zakopalova delivered just 51 per cent of her serve on target but reeled off 30 out of 38 first serve points
in the matchup to come out as the winner, while her opponent closely followed her with 28 out of 40 points en route to defeat.
Pennetta had a total of 11 chances in the entire contest but the Italian converted merely two of them to finish on the losing side in the end. Zakopalova cashed in five of her 12 break opportunities in the matchup to get the better
of the unseeded Italian.
Both contestants traded early serve breaks to take the scores to 5-5 in the opener. Zakopalova successfully saved nine break points she faced from her opponent and suffered just two serve breaks in the first set. A crucial break
point conversion from the Czech in the 11th game gave her a chance to serve out of the set and she comprehensively did at it 7-5.
After dropping the opening set, Pennetta never looked in a decent position in the following set and spilled a number of unforced errors in the game to fall on the back foot. Zakopalova broke her serve in the very first game and
then held her serve to race away to 4-1 lead in the second set. Another serve break from the Czech proved decisive in the game and concluded victory for Zakopalova at 6-1. She will take on either Anastasia Rodionova of Australia or the fourth seeded French,
Marion Bartoli, in the second round clash of New Heaven Open.
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