Lara Arruabarrena-Veci takes down Sandra Zahlavova in the second round of the Andalucia Tennis Experience
19-year-old Spanish qualifier, Lara Arruabarrena-Veci registered a surprise win over Sandra Zahlavova of Czech Republic in the second round of the Andalucia Tennis Experience at Marbella, Spain on Thursday noon. The Spanish
concluded victory in three sets, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, after battling for two hours and twenty six minutes of play, advancing to the quarter-finals of the tournament.
Arruabarrena-Veci carried on her brilliant form recording her 20th victory in the running WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) season. The Spanish teenager is yet to win a title in her career and has made
it to her first ever WTA tournament quarter-final. She is currently ranked at 253 in the world but is expected to rise a number of places with her magnificent run at Marbella.
The Spaniard outclassed the experienced Zahlavova in every segment of the game dispensing her out of the $220,000 WTA event. She served with 67 per cent accuracy in the match and conceded just two faults, in contrast to six
from the Czech. Arruabarrena-Veci crafted 14 break chances and converted half of them to take victory.
It was an action-packed contest, stuffed with plenty of winners and serve breaks. Zahlavova had her chances in the game but she couldn’t handle the pressure of the situation and let the opportunities fritter away. She had
break points on 17 different occasions but her error-stricken game squandered 11 of those chances to remain on the losing end.
Both contestants exhibited intense tennis in the opener, exchanging a series of serve breaks and tending to get the early advantage. Zahlavova was bestowed with 11 break chances in the first set but the Czech converted merely
three of them and dropped her serve four times to her opponent. Arruabarrena-Veci kept breaking her opponent’s serve on regularity and was assisted by four double faults from Zahlavova to close the opening set narrowly at 7-5.
Despite of a decent first serve percentage of 64, Arruabarrena-Veci collected just 17 out of 33 serve points in the next set. With a strict check on the unforced errors, Zahlavova cruised past the games in the second set,
breaking the Spaniard twice. She levelled the contest with one set a piece after she sealed the second set at 6-3.
A fierce competition was anticipated in the third set but the decider went on pretty much one sided. Arruabarrena-Veci reeled off 71 per cent first serve points and stung two serve breaks to the opponent en route to victory.
The Spaniard finished off the match at 6-3, moving on to the quarter-finals of the Andalucia Tennis Experience.
Arruabarrena-Veci will be facing the second seed Russian, Svetlana Kuznetsova, who defeated Agnes Szavay of Hungary in the second round to reach the quarter-finals at Marbella.
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