Nadia Petrova outlasts Jill Craybas in the second round – Family Circle Cup 2012
Seeded 13th in the tournament draw, Nadia Petrova bounced back after badly losing the first set to beat American, Jill Craybas, 2-6, 7-6(6), 6-2 in the second round at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, USA on Wednesday.
The Russian, Petrova, took two hours and 49 minutes to beat her 37-year-old opponent in a lengthy match.
Craybas struck in the very first game of the match and held her next serve to grab a 2-0 lead. The American made her second breakthrough in the seventh game and served it out at 5-2.
Petro came fighting in the second set, racing to a 3-0 lead. The Russian hit another blow and consolidated on it to build a 5-1 advantage. However, she could not close it out, losing next four games to even out the score at 5-5.
Petrova and Craybas exchanged breaks to take the set to a tie-breaker. The Russian attained a 5-1 lead but Craybas, once again, clawed her way back to equalise it at 6-6. Petrova succeeded at winning two consecutive points at the end, sealing it 7-6(6).
Craybas and Petrova swapped breaks at the start of the decider, levelling the score at 1-1. The Russian pocketed five of the next six games, hitting a couple of blows to clinch it 6-2.
Petrova and Craybas committed high number of double faults, delivering eight and four respectively. The Russian recovered by pounding seven aces compared to just two by Craybas. The 5ft 10¼in tall, Petrova, blew away eight of the
14 break threats she faced and capitalised on six of the 12 chances she received.
Commenting on the match, the Russian said, "Compared to my previous match in the first round I didn't play as well, but I have to give credit to Jill, she played very well today. She wasn't making any errors from her side, so I
had to take control of the match, and I think I made too many errors."
Petrova will lock horns with compatriot, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, in the third round. Pavlyuchenkova defeated Eleni Daniilidou in three sets 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the previous match.
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