Mirza/Vesnina bewilder Huber/Raymond to reach the semi-finals – Australian Open 2012
Sixth seeded junction of India’s Sania Mirza and Russia’s Elena Vesnina rallied past the American duo of Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond in a three set nail biter at the Australian Open 2012 on Tuesday. They formulated a 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(6) victory over their higher ranked opponents to secure a spot in the final four at this major hard court tournament taking place in Melbourne, Australia.
The winning combination of Mirza and Vesnina displayed excellent co-ordination to shock the second seeded Americans in three hours and five minutes in their third outing. They not only extended lead in the head-to-head series by 3-0 against their rivals but also advanced into the semi-finals at the Melbourne Park.
The Indo-Russian collaboration made quick in-roads and drew the first blood in the fifth game. Later, they held remaining serves and broke the Americans’ serve again in the last game to clinch the opener with a 6-3 score line in 32 minutes.
Huber and Raymond showed resistance in the second set as they improved their games and pulled out the equaliser in an hour. They carried their losing ways in the start of the second set and gifted away their serve in the second game. Apart from recovering in the fifth game, the American team lost its serve again in the very next game and trailed at 2-4. However, they counterattacked quickly and recovered in the seventh game. The Americans then plucked in remaining serves and capitalised on another break opportunity in the eleventh game, sealing the set by winning seven games to five.
Mirza and Vesnina stayed off-road in the final set and lost their serve in the fifth game. Despite recovering in the following game, they lost the serve again in the seventh game and trailed at 3-4. The Indo-Russian duo stayed focused after this and availed another opportunity in the tenth game, ultimately levelling the scores at 5-5. The set went to a tie-breaker where the lower seeds prevailed and bagged the decider with a 7-6(6) win in 93 minutes.
Next up for the Indo-Russian collaboration is the unseeded Russian team of Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva who dumped the Romanian duo, Irina-Camelia Begu and Monica Niculescu, in straight sets to reach this spot.
Eleventh seeded Italians, Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, will join Mirza and Vesnina in the semi-finals. They crushed the Russians, Alla Kudryavtseva and Ekaterina Makarova, with a breadstick to book a place in the final four.
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