Ksenia Pervak bests Nastja Kolar to advance into the last eight – NURNBERGER Gastein Ladies 2011
Eight seeded Russian Ksenia Pervak rallied past Slovenian qualifier Nastja Kolar in a three set thriller at NURNBERGER Gastein Ladies 2011, a WTA Premier International event held on the clay courts in Bad Gastein, Austria. She
registered a 4-6, 7-6(8), 6-2 victory over the 16-year-old Slovene to advance into the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Ranked 65th in the Sony Ericsson WTA Premier rankings, Pervak bounced from a set down to battle past Slovene, ranked 244 places below her, in straight sets in three hours and nine minutes on their first meeting.
The teenager displayed exceptional skills throughout the opening set. Despite failing to save both breakpoints faced, the Slovene capitalised on three out of five breakpoint chances to her advantage to clinch the opener with a
6-4 win. She clobbered a lower first serve share of 58 percent as compared to Pervak’s 66 percent but registered a spectacular 84 percent win on it. In addition to this, Kolar committed less double faults and fewer unforced errors.
The youngster kept her high spirit in the second set as she unleashed barrage of groundstrokes to reel off first three games in a row.
Pervak then re-viewed her game and in the end, found her rhythm in the eighth game when she broke the Slovene’s serve to get back in the game. She then dragged the set to a tie-breaker where she prevailed to equalise the match
with a 7-6(8) win.
20-year-old Russian veteran raised her level of game in the final set. After Kolar held her second serve in the fourth game, Pervak bombarded forehands and backhands to win last four games consecutively and eventually pocket the
decider with a 6-2 win.
The Russian played really well in the decider as she saved both breakpoints and converted two out of seven breakpoint opportunities to her advantage. She also clobbered a better first serve share of 71 percent as opposed to Kolar’s
66 percent and earned a magnificent 75 percent win on it.
Up next for the Russian is the winner of the match between Spaniard Laura Pous Tio and German Kristina Barrois.
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