Nadia Petrova gusts past Kateryna Bondarenko in the opening round – Brussels Open 2012
Former world number three, Nadia Petrova of Russia, showed glimpses of her vintage form in the opening round of the Brussels Open on Monday, outmuscling the 63rd ranked Ukrainian, Kateryna Bondarenko, in twin sets, 6-4, 6-4. Currently holding the world number 29 spot, Petrova took just 80 minutes to wrap up her 11th victory of the running season with authority.
The 10th seed Russian had won the last two singles encounters against Bondarenko and now leads 3-1 in the all-time head-to-head tally. 29-year-old Petrova is straining to get back her sublime form in the current WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) season and a thumping victory in the opening round of Brussels Open will certainly boost up her confidence to a whole new level.
The Russian veteran had an ordinary serve precision of 59 per cent in the match but she clinched 29 out of 36 first serve points en route to victory. She crafted seven break opportunities in the contest but only three conversions proved sufficient for her to drive her bleak opponent out of the competition with ease. Petrova went for the attack up front and kept belting assertive winners on regularity to dismantle her opponent completely. She also coughed a number of unforced errors in the match but they didn’t prove too taxing in the end.
"I wish I could have made a little less unforced errors today, but I served well and played well on the important points," Petrova said in her post match reviews. "The beauty of tennis is tomorrow's another day and you can work on things, improve and come back."
Up next for Petrova is the unseeded Bulgarian, Tsvetana Pironkova, in the second round of the Brussels Open.
"I'm actually looking forward to it," Petrova said about her upcoming second round match against Pironkova. "We've never played each other before, although we have practiced, but those are very different."
Pironkova was successful against the unseeded Greek opponent, Eleni Daniilidou, in the opening round match on Monday as well. She registered a convincing 6-1, 6-4, win to book a date with the Russian veteran in the round of 16 at this clay court event in Brussels.
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