Olga Savchuk and Yulia Putintseva advances into the second round – Siberia Cup 2011
Top seed Olga Savchuk went through the Russian Aminat Kushkhova with double breadsticks at the Ankara Cup 2011, the last ITF event of the season, held on the indoor hard courts in Tyumen, Russia. Third seed Yulia Putintseva
also eased past her opponent to join Savchuk in the second round on Monday.
A former world number 79, Savchuk displayed top notch performance to crush the Russian, ranked 500 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Premier Rankings, with a superb 6-1, 6-1 score line on their first encounter. She not only secured
a round of 16 spot but also got one step closer to lift her maiden year-to-date title.
Currently standing at number 195 in the rankings, the Ukrainian stepped on the Russian courts with conviction. Despite facing a pessimist crowd, she unleashed barrage of accurate ground strokes and went into a five games
killing spree before the local star could hold on. Savchuk held her serve again in the seventh game and pocketed the first breadstick. She faced no resistance by the Russian and cashed in both break opportunities.
The Ukrainian rising star carried her winning ways in the final set and convincingly held her serve in the opening game. After Kushkhova held her serve in the second game, she again went into her rage mode and wiped out
next five games in a row. She dusted away all breakpoints faced and converted two out of five break chances to her advantage.
Next up for the highest ranked player of the tournament, is the Belarusian Darya Kustova, who made an epic comeback to overpower Russian Daria Mironova. The Belarusian lost her serve once but broke Mironova’s serve four times
to seal the deal with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory on their first meeting.
Third seeded local starlet, Putintseva also advanced into the second round after dumping Ukrainian Nadiya Kichenok on another court.
Ranked 246th in the WTA rankings, Putintseva took one hour and fifteen minutes to triumph over the 19-year-old Ukrainain on their first meeting. After earning this success, she not only booked a second
round spot but also got one step closer to conquer her fourth tournament. The Russian made a quarter-final showing at Burnie ITF event in January and then cruised at the Moscow ITF event in May to lift her maiden career title (downed Veronika Kapshay in the
final). She re-ignited her spark in July and after tumbling over a series of seeded players, Putintseva won her second tournament at the Samsung ITF event (stunned second seed Marta Domachowska in the final showdown). Her third title was seen at the Kazan
ITF event the following month where Putintseva upset seventh seed Caroline Garcia in the title-round.
16-year-old required a single breakpoint in the opening set to prevail as she capitalised on it in the second game and eventually bagged the opener with a 6-3 score line.
The beaming Russian lost her track in the second set as she gifted away her opening serve. However, she quickly counter-attacked in the following game and kept remaining serves convincingly. In addition to this, Putintseva
cashed in another break opportunity in the last game and summed up the set with a 6-4 win.
The Russian teenager will next face her countrywoman, Ekaterina Yashina who trashed Kyrgyzstani Bermet Duvanaeva in straight sets to reach this sot. The high spirited youngster needs to play in a similar way to reach far
in this event.
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