Lucie Safarova advances with a breadstick at Malaysia Open
The fifth seeded Czech Lucie Safarova overpowered Kazakhstani Zarina Diyas 7-5, 6-1 at the Kuala Lumpur WTA Premier event on Monday.
World ranked 35th, Safarova has had a 50 per cent winning record for her last ten matches. She reached the quarter-finals at Brisbane but she lost in the first rounds at Paris and Dubai. The 154th ranked Diyas has also won five out
of her last 10 matches. She was ousted in the qualifying rounds at the Australian Open Grand Slam and was able to reach the first round through qualifiers at Pattaya Open.
Safarova faced Diyas for the first time and demolished her by her quick and powerful forehands and backhands. In the opening set both players displayed an awesome game of tennis and held all of their serves till Safarova levelled at 5-5. The Czech broke
Diyas’ serve at this crucial time by smashing a forehand down the line and took the lead. Later she clinched the set by holding on to her serve in the proceeding game with a 7-5 score line. Both fired two aces and Diyas saved two out of three break points.
The Kazakhstani even had a higher first serve percentage of 61 per cent as compared to Czech’s 50 percent. However, Safarova registered an impressive 88 per cent win on it.
The 24-year-old Czech kept her winning momentum from the first set to the second set as she got the coveted break in the very first game and took the lead. She was on fire as she won the first four games in a row with her ferocious forehands. The Kazakhstani
youngster tried to hold her back but she was unstoppable. However she managed to hold her serve in the fifth game but it was too late, as Safarova sealed the set by winning the next two games with a score line of 6-1. She clearly outshined Diyas in every aspect
of the game and she hammered two aces and had a higher first serve percentage. The Czech also earned an amazing 82 percent win on her first serve. On the other hand, Diyas was exhausted in this set and committed four double faults. She was only able to save
three break points and had a lower return point winning percentage as well.
Safarova will be facing Chinese Xinyun Han or Russian Dinara Safina in the round of 16. If she continues to play with her same form, she can go far in this WTA Premier event.
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