Maria Kirilenko outplays Zheng Shuai in the 1st round – Western & Southern Open 2011
Chinese Zheng Shuai lost in straight sets against Russian Maria Kirilenko in 2 hour, 14 minutes and 32 seconds of play, at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio during the first round of the Western and Southern Open
2011.
The two met for the first time on the hard courts of the Chinese Open 2010, Beijing, China where the Russian had won in straight sets of a bread stick and a bagel (6-1, 6-0) victory and was leading the head-to-head with a 1-0.
Shuai had been given a chance on the 16th of August 2011 at the Western and Southern Open 2011 but to her dismay, she was unable to avail the opportunity and let her opponent triumph with a 7-6(2), 6-3.
Striking 2 double faults was the Russian, while, her opponent had extreme exactitude and she struck zero double faults, however, neither of the players had struck an ace.
Kirilenko was able to save 6 out of 8 break points and broke her opponent twice; whereas, the Chinese was also able to bag 2 break points but saved 1 out of the 3 on her serve.
Although there was not much difference between the points of the two, the Chinese had an average serve which won her 48% of the total service points, against Kirilenko who had an above average score of 54% of her total service
points.
In addition, 24-year-old Russian, Kirilenko gained an upper hand because she was able to slice most of her opponent’s shots and hence, had an above average return of 52%, in opposition to the 22-year-old Chinese who barely made
a 46% win in her total return points.
Following her victory in the tie-breaker, the Russian had found a new confidence and both the players had perfected their serve and thus, struck no double faults.
Shuai wasn’t to give up the match to her opponent that easily and both the players had turned a notch in their serves, with Shuai attaining 63% in her total service points and Kirilenko bagged 65% win. However, both had a poor
performance in their return serve and Shuai only mustered 35% win, whilst the Russian had achieved a 38% win in the total return points.
This time Kirilenko had gone all the way and saved a 100% of her break points and broke her rival once, which gave her the break through and the edge she was looking for as she bagged the set with a total set score of 54%, restricting
her Chinese opponent to just three games in the second set.
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