Maria Kirilenko puts aside Nadia Petrova to reach the quarter-finals – BNP Paribas Open 2012
In an all-Russian encounter, Maria Kirilenko sneaked a win against Nadia Petrova to reach the quarter-final stage of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. It was an exhausting three-setter, lasting for two hours and 41 minutes.
The superior ranked Russian clasped the win 6-1, 5-7, 6-2.
There is a rich history between the two players. It was the eighth professional level encounter that planed the head-to-head scores to 4-4. Petrova had won the last two clashes but they were played way back in 2008 and 2010 respectively;
during her supreme era.
Kirilenko opened up the proceedings with a serve hold and gobbled up the first breakpoint in the following game. She continued the onslaught in the third game and grabbed another breakthrough in the sixth to pull down curtains
for her compatriot in the opening set.
The second set battle went in favour of Petrova. She broke serve to commence the proceedings and clasped another breakpoint in the third game to register a resounding lead of 3-0. Another comprehensive serve hold enhanced her position
to 4-0.
A great turnaround in the proceedings was witnessed at the hard courts of California when Kirilenko broke serve twice on the trot to level the scores at 5-5. The 33rd ranked Russian couldn’t believe what happened to
her but she stayed focused and clinched another breakthrough in the 12th game to grab the set.
The final set went one way from the third game when the 23rd ranked Russian broke serve and took a lead. She broke serve again in the fifth game to enhance the lead to 4-1. Petrova did fight to win one break back but
just to see her serve broken in the following game that took the scores to 5-2. Kirilenko won the match after registering a tight serve hold.
The 25-years-old Kirilenko is now level with her compatriot and more importantly, sees herself up against the former world number one, Maria Sharapova, in the quarter-final stage of the tournament. Other big news for the day was
the exit of the defending champion, Caroline Wozniacki, at the hands of the Serb beauty starlet, Ana Ivanovic, in straight sets.
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