Marina Erakovic upsets Sara Errani to move into the quarterfinals – AEGON Classic 2011
Marina Erakovic continued her impressive run on the green surface as she battled past number seven seed Sara Errani from Italy 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 to book her place in the quarterfinal of 2011 AEGON Classic in Birmingham.
Ranked 151st in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings, Erakovic made a slow start to the match as she lost the first set to Errani. However she executed her game plan to perfection in the second and third sets to reach
her first WTA quarterfinal of the season.
Looking for a place in the last eight at the WTA tournament, Errani made a solid start to her third round match against the New Zealander. Breaking the serve early, she ensured her strong grip over the contest. Erakovic put up
a brave fight as she broke back to level the game score 3-3.
The Italian seemed to be unaffected by that as she broke the challenger once more in eleventh game to take a crucial 6-5 lead, serving for the set. Clinching four straight points on her next service game, she bagged the opener
7-5.
Erakovic organised her game play and came up with a brilliant strategy to down her opponent in the second set. The 23-year-old broke serve early to give Errani something to think about. Losing momentum, Errani made a number of
unforced errors and let Erakovic take control of the rallies. Firing a blistering serve ace, she set up two set points for her and then converted the second one to even the set score 1-1.
The final set also followed a very similar trend. Having lost her confidence, Errani struggled to get any timing on her shots where as Erakovic continued to display some high quality tennis throughout. With a couple of serve breaks,
she earned an impassable lead in the set and then consolidated on it to close out the match that lasted for more than two hours and 23 minutes.
Her first serve conversion was as high as 86 percent, which played a vital part in her success. She stood firm at the receiving end as well and created all sorts of problems for Errani with her powerful serve returns. However she
must take care of her unforced errors as the likes of Hantuchova and Ana Ivanovic may not let her get away with them.
Although Erakovic is a surprising quarterfinalist at the WTA 250 series tournament, she must be given credit for her exceptional temperament and mental abilities. Competing against top tennis professionals here, she has shown her
extra ordinary grass court skills. She will be hoping to lift her first ever WTA trophy by achieving similar results in her upcoming matches.
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