Kuznetsova/Zvonareva dump Mirza/Vesnina to reach the doubles final – Australian Open 2012
After losing their individual matches in the singles draw, the Russian tennis aces, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva, joined forces to overpower the sixth seeded women’s duo of Sania Mirza from India and Elena Vesnina of
Russia in the semi-final of the Australian Open on Wednesday. The unseeded Russian pair laboured extremely hard to wrap up the three-set thriller in two hour and 33 minutes, settling the final scores at 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-4, getting a spot in the final of the
Grand Slam event in Melbourne, Australia.
It was an evenly poised contest, with the Russian veterans producing an upset result in the end. Mirza and Vesnina were off to a good start but some critical mistakes from the six seeds pushed them out of the competition in the
last moments of the game. They dropped the opening set tie-breaker but recovered with great mastery in the following set to draw the scores level at 1-1. Kuznetsova and Zvonareva kept with their aggressive strategy in the final set and converted critical opportunities
in their favour to register an emphatic semi-final victory at the Margaret Court Arena at the Melbourne Park.
Mirza and Vesnina’s error-ridden game play proved too taxing for them in the end. They both spilled a total of 51 unforced errors in the match to gift away some easy points to their Russian opponents. However, the sixth seeded
duo registered 47 winners in the match, in contrast to their opponents’ 29, yet finishing on the losing side in the end.
The opening set saw a fierce battle between the two pairs. Three break points apiece were registered from the contesting duos, dragging the set into a tie-breaker round. Kuznetsova and Zvonareva stood tall to bag the decider at
7-6(4) to get one up in the contest.
Mirza and Vesnina made a fitting reply in the next set, nailing three serve breaks to close out the set at 6-2 and enforcing a third one into play. Intensity built up even more in the ultimate decider, with the two teams throwing
out their best at each other. Kuznetsova and Zvonareva converted a vital break point in the 10th game which wrapped up victory for them at 6-4, awarding them a title shot in the final round of the Grand Slam of Asia-Pacific.
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