Nina Bratchikova to resume play at the Shenzhen Longgang Gemdale Open 2013 – Tennis News
Nina Bratchikova is eyeing a better season after a troublesome 2012 in which she registered a winning record of 32-30. She will commence her New Year campaign at the Shenzhen Longgang Gemdale Open in China, the tournament that
will be staged for the first time as the Premier event of the Women Tennis Association in December-January.
World number 80, Bratchikova, started this year’s proceedings at the Brisbane International and easily cleared the qualifying stages to book a berth in the main draw. She outclassed another contestant to reach the round of 16 but
couldn’t continue her breakthrough against the former world number one, Jelena Jankovic, who was seeded sixth in the event.
She lost in the final qualifier at Moorilla Hobart International but played out the first three qalies at the Australian Open without any difficulty. Moreover, the 27-year-old Russian captured a couple of wins in the main draw
of the event; she outfoxed the 19th seed Flavia Pennetta and Alberta Brianti before losing out to the newlywed Iveta Benesova.
A little cameo at Melbourne didn’t open up the gates of good luck for the Russian. She stumbled apart at the second qualifier of the Open GDF Suez. However, a wilful performance at the Whirlpool Monterrey Open yielded two wins
for her as she exited the event in the qualifying stage.
Bratchikova lost eight matches in a row after a good run at Monterrey. She stooped in the opening round of Indian Wells, Miami, Barcelona, Fes and Estoril. The other two losses came in the Challenger events at Nassau and Osprey.
So, a troubled run in April was coupled with a better show in May that saw her reach the third round at the Roland Garros French Open.
Another good cameo was followed up by a dismal spell that featured three losses in four games including the big defeat at Wimbledon. However, she regrouped at reached the quarter-final at Baku Cup but the momentum was thrown with
a hat-trick of defeats in the US Open, Tashkent Open and Guangzhou International Women Open.
It will be interesting to witness if the Russian experienced player can capitalize on the opportunities awarded to her in 2013 or not.
Tags: