Olga Govortsova routs Francesca Schiavone in the opening round – Barcelona Ladies Open 2012
Olga Govortsova of Belarus stunned Francesca Schiavone of Italy to book a spot in the second round of the Barcelona Ladies Open on Tuesday. She drowned the top seed Italian in straight sets 6-4, 6-3; registering the win in an hour
and 25 minutes.
The Belarusian started the proceedings with a serve hold. The top seed wildcard entrant also followed her moving the scores to 1-1. A same phenomenon was repeated in the following two games before an exchange of breakthroughs further
pushed the scores to 3-3.
Scores were closely packed until the end of the opening set. Both players were capitalizing on their serves and tickled the scoreboard to 5-4 with Schiavone serving the 10th game to keep the set alive. She started off
poorly; gifting points to her opponent that led to her downfall. She dropped the serve game and gifted the first set triumph to the underdog.
The 83rd ranked Belarusian was broken in the first game of the second set but fought back immediately in the following game to level the scores at 1-1. She continued to mount pressure on the top seed and broke serve
again in the fourth game to take a lead of 3-1.
She did extremely well to hold her opponent in the fifth game and register a serve hold that gave her an unassailable lead of 4-1. The 12th ranked Italian was broken for the third time in a row that thumped her to a
trail of 1-5. Schiavone did well to keep the set alive by breaking her rival’s serve in the following game and diminished the trail to 3-5. However, she couldn’t repeat the heroics for the second time and lost the match.
Govortsova was ecstatic at her majestic triumph. In a post-match interview, she mentioned, “We played each other four times before, so I knew how she plays - she doesn't make mistakes. I knew I had to be aggressive against her,
and I did a good job of that today." The 23-years-old Belarusian leads the head-to-head series with 3-2 courtesy to this victory.
Govortsova didn't get her first clay court win of the year until Roland Garros. last season. "I like clay," the Belarusian said. "You can use volleys and slice more. I'm going to play more on clay this year; I didn't play much
on it last year."
Govortsova will take on Laura Pous-Tio of Spain in the second round.
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