Nadia Petrova rallies past Anna Tatishvili in the second round – London Olympics 2012
World number 23, Nadia Petrova, stayed firm at the grass courts of Wimbledon to reach the pre-quarters stage of the London Olympics with a tight three sets 6-3, 6(5)-7, 6-2 victory over the 84th ranked Georgian, Anna
Tatishvili, on the eve of Tuesday.
Petrova commenced the match with an easy serve hold. However, the following three games witnessed a gruelling battle with both players squandering multiple breakpoints in the second and third game before the Russian finally clinched
a breakthrough courtesy a delicately placed drop shot.
Russian 16th seed took a lead of 4-1 with a simple serve hold. However, her opponent followed her to decrease the trail in the following game. There were no more breakthroughs contested in the remaining part of the set.
However, a chance was created by the 22-year-old Georgian in the final game of the set to break serve but the 30-year-old Russian did well to hang on and bag the first phase of the match.
The second set witnessed a capitalization of serve holds for the first four games before a trade of breakthroughs took place that kept the score together at 3-3. The spectators were expecting a flurry of breakpoints in the remaining
part of the set but they were proven wrong with some classy control of the serves at both ends.
With no more breakpoints seen towards the end of the 12th game, a tie-breaker round was enforced. It was expected that the Russian superstar will edge away having so much experience of these situations but the surprise
package from Tatishvili impressed the crowd and more importantly helped her to level the set scores at one apiece.
A swap of breakpoints followed up with a serve hold at both ends hinted at a tight final set battle. However, the Russian starlet took over the proceedings from that stage and bagged the second breakpoint of the set after squandering
one earlier in the game. She led the scores 4-2 at that stage.
Petrova was under the cosh in the following game and almost lost the breakpoint but the simplest of overhead returns was sprayed beyond the baseline by the 84th ranked Georgian that handed over an opportunity for the
Russian to hold serve. The 23rd ranked Petrova made no mistake and cruised away to a lead of 5-2.
Tatishvili faltered on her serve for the third time in the set and handed over the win to the Russian who plays the top seed Belarusian, Victoria Azarenka, for a place in the quarters.
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