Maria Kirilenko swallows Tetiana Luzhanska to reach the semis – WANLIMA Women’s Open 2011
Top seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko drills past Ukrainian Tetiana Luzhanska with a breadstick at the WANLIMA International Women’s Open 2011, a WTA International event held in Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China. She registered
a 6-1, 7-5 victory over the 27-year-old Ukrainian to secure a last four spot on Thursday.
The highest ranked player of the tournament standing at number 28, Kirilenko eased past the Ukrainian, ranked 112 spots below her, in just one hour and twenty-two minutes on their first face-to-face. She not only took lead in the
head-to-head series by 1-0 but also advanced into the semi-finals.
The Moscow native, Kirilenko went berserk after entering the Guangzhou’s outdoor hard courts. She unleashed her true colours to reel off first four games in a row before the Ukrainian snatched her break back. The Russian kept her
spirit high as she broke Luzhanska’s serve again in the following game and then held her serve to earn a breadstick in twenty-seven minutes.
She clobbered a lower first serve share of 59 percent as compared to Ukrainian’s 72 percent but registered a tremendous 77 percent win on it. In addition to this, she saved one out of two breakpoints faced but cashed in on three
out of seven breakpoint opportunities to her advantage.
24-year-old Russian kept momentum rolling into the final set and took the first blood in the third game to take the lead by 2-1. Despite losing her serve in the proceeding game and exchanging a break in the ninth and tenth game,
she broke Ukrainian’s serve again in the eleventh game to eventually pocket the set by winning seven games to five.
Kirilenko formulated a lower first serve share of 59 percent as compared to Ukrainian’s 74 percent but registered a convincing 53 percent win on it. Although she failed to save both breakpoints faced, the Russian capitalised on
half of the six breakpoint chances to her advantage.
She will next face the seventh seed, South Africa’s Chanelle Scheepers who earned a comeback victory against the Pole Urszula Radwanska to reach this spot. The Russian needs to maintain her composure in order to advance further
in this event.
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