Maria Kirilenko advances at the Sony Ericsson Open
24th seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko bounced back from being one set down to win against the Indian qualifier Sania Mirza in a three setter on Friday. She advances to the third round of the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open.
The Indian qualifier, who recently won the BNP Paribas Open Women’s Doubles title before entering this tournament, had won against the Russian in their previous two meetings and thus was leading in their head-to-head series by
2-0. She was leading 7-5, 3-1 but lost her focus and lost 11 straight games.
The world number 27, Kirilenko fought well in the opening set as she had a higher first serve percentage and broke Mirza’s serve three times. Mirza on the other hand was in good shape and committed less double faults. In addition
to this, the world’s number 99 Mirza saved five breakpoints and broke the Russian’s serve four times to win the first set 7-5.
Mirza entered the second set with same winning momentum as she held her opening serve plausibly and broke the Russian serve in the proceeding game. Kirilenko snatched the break back in the next game but the Indian Star took the
lead again after breaking Kirilenko’s serve in the fourth game.
After trailing 3-1, Kirilenko who made a final berth at Moscow in October put her entire concentration into the match as she went on to win all the remaining games to win the set with a 6-3 win. Kirilenko broke Mirza’s serve four
times and had a higher first serve share in this equalizer set.
The in-form Russian kept her savage mode in the final set as she won all the six games in a row through her quick forehands and backhands.
Despite Mirza’s higher first serve share and fending off four breakpoints in the final set, she just couldn’t penetrate the Russian’s defences.
Kirilenko will next face 9th seeded Polish Agnieszka Radwanska.
Ranked 14th in the world, Radwanska extended her lead in their head-to-head series by 2-0 after downing the world’s number 50, Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in straight sets. Radwanska earned a breadstick and a bagel
to advance to the next round.
The 22-year-old Radwanska kept her serve in the first game. Though she failed to break the Czech’s serve in the second game, Radwanska went on rage mode to win eleven proceeding games in a row and eventually won the match with
a 6-1, 6-0 score line.
Radwanska registered an amazing 76 percent win on her lower first serve share and converted five out of twelve breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to win the match convincingly.
Tags: