Ksenia Pervak gives Galina Voskoboeva the boot in the semi-final – Baku Cup 2011
Saturday, July 23, 2011 was the start of the semi final of the Baku Cup 2011. The semi final was a close round of sets between both the players however; Ksenia won the match 1-6, 6-0, 6-2 by taking the lead in the later two sets played at the Baku Tennis Academy, Baku, Azerbaijan.
Ksenia Pervak and Galina Voskoboeva met for the first time in 2007 at the Moscow Cup, where they battled each other out on a carpet court. Galina had won the match 6-4, 6-1. The Higher Power crossed their paths again and gave another chance to Ksenia to equalize the head to head score. The second time they met was at the Berlin Cup in 2008, where both the players had crossed swords on clay courts, this time again Galina won 4-6, 6-1, 6-3. Galina had a lead of 2-0 in the their head to head; yet another chance was given to Ksenia by the Higher Power to regain her fame against Galina at the Baku Cup 2011.
Galina won the toss; serving first with a lot of confidence she hit an ace and with extreme precession struck zero double faults. Whilst her opponent (Ksenia) was not able to serve an ace and with a nervous demeanour, struck two double faults that hit the net. Galina had only managed to win an average forty eight percent of her first serve opening the set along with an average return serve, however, she had a strong defence and managed to save both her break points along with winning forty percent of her break point chances. Ksenia was extremely weary and did not put any effort in t he game even though she won fifty three percent of the first serve of the set, she was unable to win any break point advantages and hence lost the set. Galina won with almost twice the percentage of her opponents 6-1.
The second set saw a change of events and although, Galina performed better than the previous set, she had a poor performance in her return serve and it seemed that Galina had become over confident at her precession and ended up striking three line faults. However, Ksenia hung on in the set and fought back like as if her life depended on it, she was able to gain an upper hand because she committed only one line fault and her defence had improved and she gave no break point chances to her opponent instead she won sixty percent of break point opportunities. This time Ksenia won with twice the percentage of her old time rival’s and the set score card read as 6-0.
This was the final deciding set of the match Galina was confident that she would win because she had previously done so. Although Galina hit an ace and also had immaculate accuracy she was unable to perform with consistency in both her serve and return serve. She gave the match to her opponent by giving two break point opportunities to her opponent.
Serving first with enthusiasm and confidence was Ksenia as this was the first time she had just equalized their set score card. She perfected her precession by not committing double faults and performed commendably throughout the set. She had a walloping eighty seven percent of the first serve percentage along with an exceptional return serve. Ksenia won fifty percent of her break point advantages and secured her place in semi final by winning the last set of the match 6-2.
The world number 65, Ksenia, came back with a vengeance to win the match and to regain her dignity against the Kazakhstani Galina. She will now face the Russian and the world number 3 Vera Zvonareva in the final match of the Baku Cup 2011.
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