Nadia Petrova bamboozles Sara Errani in the quarters – Toray Pan Pacific Open 2012
World number 18, Nadia Petrova, bamboozled the seventh ranked Italian star, Sara Errani, in the quarter-finals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open on Thursday. She was trailing from a set but bounced back emphatically to defeat the 25-year-old
Italian in two hours and 36 minutes with the final scores of 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Earlier in the season, Petrova faced stomping straight sets defeat at the hands of Errani in the second round of the Australian Open Championship at Melbourne. However, the head-to-head scores are finally tied at 1-1 and more importantly,
the 30-year-old Russian is into the semi-finals of the event at Tokyo.
Petrova wasn’t prolific in the opening set. She was missing the first serves and not finding the rhythm at all. The double-fault in the third game allowed her opponent to take a lead and another poor show in the ‘do or die’ game
helped Errani to register a set lead. The Italian looked set to reach the semi-finals but an emphatic comeback from the former world number three disallowed her place in the last four.
The Russian was trailing with a breakpoint by the end of the sixth game in the second set. However, a dramatic comeback witnessed a successful breakthrough for the Russian in the seventh game and it was coupled with a stunning
run of play in the 11th game that gave her a lead. A tight serve hold enhanced her chances of winning the match as the set scores were levelled at 1-1 by that time.
Both players started off with a breakthrough and coupled it with a serve hold to make it 2-2 in the deciding battle. Another swap of breakpoints kept the scores together at 3-3. However, a turnaround was witnessed when Petrova
trounced her rival in the seventh game and capitalized on that breakpoint with a serve hold to make it 5-3 in her favour.
Errani was serving to stay in the match but she failed to do so and gifted a semi-final berth to her opponent. It was a cracking performance from the Russian who will face the former US Open Champion, Samantha Stosur, in the clash
for a spot in the final showdown.
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