Klara Zakopalova upsets Li Na to advance at Qatar Ladies Open
Czech Klara Zakopalova defeated 4th seeded Chinese Li Na with a breadstick at Doha WTA Premier event on Wednesday.
The lower ranked Czech displayed brilliant skills throughout the match. In the opening set, the world number seven Li saved three break points, converted one break point and had a higher first serve percentage of 66 percent as
compared to Czech’s 55 percent. However, Zakopalova registered an impressive 75 percent win on it and won the set with three breaks to make the score line 6-2 to her.
In the second and the final set, Li was able to win a single game by holding on to her serve whereas Zakopalova went on fire and destroyed her. She unleashed her flurry of ground strokes to win six games spectacularly including
three by breaking Chinese serves. She had an acceptable first serve percentage of 60 percent to Li’s 63 percent. However she earned an astonishing 67 percent win on it.
World ranked 33, Zakopalova had a 60 percent winning record for her last ten matches. She exited in the second rounds of Australian Open Grand Slam, from Paris Open and from the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. She entered
this tournament in good shape as she reached this spot through qualifiers and triumphed over Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru in the first round.
Zakopalova will be facing 5th seeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic in the quarter-finals. And she has yet to lose a set in this WTA Premier event.
Another upset happened on Wednesday as Chinese Shuai Peng defeated 3rdseeded Italian Francesca Schiavone by 7-5, 6-3.
Peng had an 80 percent winning record for her last ten matches. She reached the fourth round in the Australian Open Grand Slam and reached the quarter-finals at Pattaya Open. She reached this spot through the qualifiers and overpowered
Swiss Timea Bacsinszky by 6-3, 6-2 in the first round.
World number 5, Schiavone fired 4 aces and won two games with breaks but the Chinese outplayed her. In the first set, the Italian did played well and managed to win five games but in the second set, Peng unleasdhed her skills and
won six games to Italian's three only. Overall Peng had a much higher first serve percentage of 85 percent as compared to Schiavone’s 57 percent. She also earned 66 percent win on it. In the end Peng clinched the match by displaying her amazing performance
and by breaking Italian’s serve four times.
Peng will be facing French Marion Bartoli in the next round. Bartoli defeated 8thseeded Israeli Shahar Peer in straight sets to reach this spot.
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