Lesia Tsurenko
wipes out Ana Vrljic in 1st round – Slovak Open 2011
Top seeded Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko whitewashed Croatian Ana Vrljic in the first round of the Slovak Open 2011.
The two players clashed against each other and after one hour and twenty two minutes on indoor hard courts of the Národné Tenisové Centrum in Bratislava, Slovakia, the top seed whipped the Croatian in straight sets of 7-5, 6-3
to reserve a spot in the next round on Wednesday the 16th of November 2011.
Although both the sets were won by the top seed, the second set was a dominant victory. Opening the initial round was the top seeded Ukrainian and she managed to smash an ace in the opening game to hold her serve. Following in
her footsteps was Vrljic and she too held her serve to place herself on the scoreboard at 1-1.
It was in the third and the fourth game that the two traded in breaks and leading the set was the top seed. However, with a hold of serve from Vrljic the score had equalised at three games each by the end of the sixth game.
However, the top seed again managed to take the lead with a hold of serve in the seventh game and then by breaking her adversary in the eighth game. She was now only a game away from taking the competitive edge; however, she was
unable to bag the set immediately in the next game.
As history repeated itself, the Croatian once more levelled the score at five games each by the end of the tenth game. From there onwards, the top seed was tired of the goose chase and took a notch higher to close the set in the
twelfth game as she capitalized on a breakpoint.
During the second set both the players bagged their respective serves for the first four games and the score had tied at two games each. Subsequently in the following two games the players broke each other one after the other
and at the end of the sixth game the score had balanced out at three games each.
Neither player wanted the other to take the lead but it was in the seventh game that the top seeded Ukrainian held her serve and then in the eighth game, she took the lead by benefiting from a breakpoint. As she served for the
match in the ninth game, she smashed a backhand winner and sealed her victory of the match.
The top seeded Ukrainian will now be facing unseeded Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic in the second round of the event.
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