Laura Robson outfoxes Carla Suarez Navarro to book a spot in semis – XXV Italiacom Open 2012
British teen star, Laura Robson, sent packing another seeded player on the eve of Friday to book a berth in the semi-finals of the XXV Italiacom Open in Palermo, Italy. This time it was the 41st ranked Spaniard, Carla
Suarez Navarro, who was the fifth seeded contestant of the tournament. World number 113, Robson, picked up the win in three sets 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 after an intense battle of almost two hours and two minutes.
Robson, just 18-year-old, matched blow-by-blow to her rival throughout the contest. Both players constructed eleven opportunities to break serve of their rival and converted six of them to their favour.
In the overall comparison, the Briton teen won 82 points in total compared to 85 of her competitor but it was all about winning those crucial points and vital stages of the set that proved to be focal points of the fantastic performance
of the Briton young gun.
Navarro was better with her second serve conversion rate; bagging 19 of the 36 points on them that translates into a reasonable 53% conversion rate. On the other hand, Robson was extremely poor with the control of her second serves
and could only manage 14 out of 40 that is translates into mere 35%.
So, it will not be wrong to say that the British teen was lucky to win her first ever semi-final berth but she deserved to win considering her stubborn willpower to defeat the superior ranked players. She has done it twice in two
days; yesterday she outclassed the second seed Italian veteran, Roberta Vinci.
Hence, she is just breaking the norm of superior ranked players always ruling the show and bringing in some changes that are pleasantly welcomed by most of the viewers. The left-handed Briton started with a serve hold in the opening
set and swapped breakpoints in the early stages. However, the final game of proved to be the biggest failure of the fifth seed Spaniard who couldn’t hold on to her serve and gifted the win to the Briton.
An expected comeback was witnessed in the second phase of the match with Navarro winning an early breakpoint to take a lead of 3-1. She continued to rule the show and grabbed another breakthrough that piled a lead of 5-2. She held
her serve and enforced the final set play.
The final set witnessed five breakthroughs falling in favour of Robson in the ratio of 3:2. The show confirmed the match semi-final contest between the Czech eighth seed, Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, and Laura Robson that will take
place on Saturday.
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