Lucie Safarova scuttles past Jie Zheng to clear round two – New Haven Open 2012
World number 17, Lucie Safarova, ousted the 32nd ranked Chinese star, Jie Zheng, in straight sets 6-4, 6-0 to post a resounding second set triumph in the New Haven Open at Yale.
Safarova tied down the 29-year-old Chinese from the word go. She forced her to save multiple breakpoints in the opening two return games, whilst banged in two serve holds to love. Zheng did well to hold on to the first two serve
games and against the run of play, broke her rival’s serve to take a lead. However, Safarova recovered well to break serve back and equalized the scores at 4-4 with a serve hold.
The Czech continued to show her class as she broke serve for the second time on the trot and entered a stage where she had to hold her serve to take the first set away. She was tested rigorously in the 10th game but
didn’t bow down and stole a win under the nose of her rival.
It seemed like the match will go down the wire in the second set but the 25-year-old Czech starlet demolished her opponent completely to register an emphatic bagel.
She won three breakpoints in succession and didn’t falter on her serves that helped her to exert immense pressure on her foe throughout the set.
In the end, Safarova won the match with 69 points compared to 44 of her rival. She won five breakthroughs and allowed just two opportunities to her Chinese rival to break serve. She saved one of those and that helped her to sustain
a resounding lead in the second set.
The second seed Czech star, Petra Kvitova, will be her next opponent. Lucie Safarova is the second favourite to win the all-Czech quarter-final battle but the new Top-20 ranked player is capable to power down the left-hand compatriot
at any given day provided she continues to play on top of her game and don’t allow her opponent to take control of the proceedings at the start.
All-Czech clash will begin on the eve of Thursday and most probably feature a three-setter.
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