Lourdes Lino defeats Barbora Strycova; moves into the second round of Internazionali BNL D’Italia
30-year-old Spaniard, Lourdes Dominguez Lino rallied past 25-year-old Czech, Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in a hard fought three setter on Monday. She registered a 6-1, 0-6, 7-6(4) victory over the Czech to advance into the second round of the 2011 Internazionali BNL D’Italia in Rome, Italy.
Ranked 46th in the WTA Premier rankings, Lino is in good shape as she won the title at Bogota earlier this season. She then made a quarter-final berth at Acapulco though she met with early exits from there on.. Regardless of her current form, she downed the youngster in two hours and twenty-one minutes and extended the lead in their head-to-head series by 2-0.
World number 49, Strycova on the other side of net has won only three of her last ten matches. She hasn’t had much progress this season except for reaching the quarter-finals at Brisbane. With this loss, the Czech extends her losing streak to six matches.
The Spaniard displayed tremendous skills in the opening set as she unleashed flurry of ground strokes to seal the set by winning six games to one. Despite ending up with a lower first serve share, she registered an impressive 69 percent win on it. Lino also saved four out of five breakpoints and converted three out of seven breakpoint opportunities to her advantage.
Strycova roared back in the second set as she went on savage mode. With the help from thunderous forehands, the Czech reeled off six games in a row to earn a bagel. She registered an amazing first serve share of 85 percent as opposed to the Spaniard’s 54 percent and earned a 71 percent win on it. Strycova registered a 100 percent figure on service and return breakpoints.
Lino was trailing 1-4 in the final set when she roared back and broke the Czech’s serve in the ninth game to eventually level the scores at 5-5. She then exchanged a break in the proceeding games to drag the set to tiebreaker where she dominated to clinch the set with a 7-6(4) win.
The Spaniard will next face fourth seeded Chinese Na Li who received a bye into the second round.
Tags: