Lucie Safarova surprises Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the quarter-finals – Qatar Total Open 2012
World number 28, Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic continued to impress everyone with her dream run at the Qatar Total Open, beating the former world number two, Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, in the third round battle. The 25-year-old
outsmarted the 14th seed Kuznetsova in straight sets, 7-6(6), 6-3, taking one hour and 39 minutes of play to earn a spot in the quarter-final rounds.
The belligerent Czech stunned everyone with her eye-startling performance in the second round of the tournament, defeating the former world number one, Caroline Wozniacki, in a punishing three-setter. Safarova sustained her winning
impetus in the third round of the tournament and disposed of the Russian veteran in straight sets to level her head-to-head series at 3-3 with her. She was also victorious in their most recent encounter, which took place in the Sydney last month and the Czech
won it after Kuznetsova retired from the match due to injury.
The contest remained evenly poised throughout but it was Safarova’s tremendous ability to cash her opportunities which always kept her one step ahead of her opponent. The unseeded Czech converted 31 out of 43 first serve points
in her favour and registered two breaks of serve out of her eight chances to come out as the winner. Kuznetsova could strike just one break point in the entire matchup and her bleak return game led her down in the contest in the end.
"I did very well last night against Caroline and followed that up with a very tough match against Svetlana today," Safarova said after booking a place in the quarter-finals of the coveted event. "It was a very close first set.
I'm glad I won it and carried the momentum until the end of the match. Everything is together for me this week. I feel very good on serve and it's helping me to win points in key moments. I hope to keep it going."
Safarova will square off against the fifth seed Frenchwoman, Marion Bartoli, in the quarter-final of the Qatar Total Open on Friday afternoon. The French top-tenner nailed an impressive twin-sets victory in the third round match
against Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria. She ousted the unseeded opponent in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, to earn a place in the round of eight of the tournament. Bartoli leads 4-1 in the head-to-head combats against Safarova and is among the hot favourites for
winning the championship title in Qatar.
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