Ksenia Pervak strains past Vera Dushevina in the first round – Budapest Grand Prix 2012
World number 38, Ksenia Pervak of Kazakhstan, had a rough ride in the opening round of the Budapest Grand Prix against the 72nd ranked Vera Dushevina on Tuesday. She strained for three hours before hunting down the 25-year-old
Russian in three gruelling sets, settling the final scores at 6-1, 5-7, 7-6(6), to reach the second round of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International event.
Second seeded Pervak avenged her lost from Dushevina, who defeated the Kazakh in New Haven, USA, in 2010. She was stretched to her limits in the Tuesday’s contest but she kept her focus in the game to turn the tables on Dushevina
and levelled the head-to-head series at 1-1 against her. The 20-year-old had a blistering start to the match and raced through the games to bag the opener with a breadstick. Pervak was well on her way to a straight sets victory but an amazing comeback from
the Russian made the contest even thrilling.
Dushevina nailed a crucial break point in the 12th game to close out the second set in her favour at 7-5, dragging the match into a third decisive set. With the contest evenly poised at 1-1, the final set was bound to
be a nail-biter and it actually proved to be one. Two break points from both sides deadlocked the scores at 6-6 and a brought a tie-breaker round into play. Pervak capitalized on a vital mini-break to edge past his opponent, finishing off the contest at 7-6(6)
to come out as the deserving winner.
"It was a very tough match and she's a very tough opponent," Pervak said after registering her eighth victory of the running season in style. "I know her so well from when we played in Russia together and I'm really happy to get
the win as she won quite easily last time we played."
Pervak will play against the other unseeded Russian opponent, Elena Vesnina, in the next encounter to fight for a place in the quarter-finals of the Budapest Grand Prix. Vesnina received a walkover in the opening round, as her
American opponent, Varvara Lepchenko, pulled out of the competition due to injury.
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