Petra Cetkovska defeats Virginie Razzano in opening qualifier of the BNP Paribas Open
26-year-old Czech, Petra Cetkovska defeated thirteenth seed Virginie Razzano of France in the first round qualifier of the BNP Paribas Open in Indiana Wells, California on Monday night. It took one hour and fifty three minutes for Cetkovska to overcome her
French competitor in a three-set thriller, finishing 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.
The contest proved to be a fairly poised one, with the momentum oscillating between the two players. Cetkovska took the opening set but Razzano clinched the next one to level the contest. The Czech bounced back to nab the third one to book a berth in the
second round of the qualifiers.
Former World no. 16 Razzano replicated the results she produced in her earlier tournament of the running season; she could not make it past the opening qualifying rounds of the Brisbane International Championships this year.
The Czech spilled out 11 double faults in the contest; her opponent followed her with seven but her unforced error count was far worse than Cetkovska.
Cetkovska had an aggressive start, something she needed to take the early advantage of the thirteenth seed’s sloppy start. She served merely 53 per cent on target but won 13 out of 16 points on it. Both contestants squandered plenty of break chances in the
first set. Razzano received five break points and she converted just one out of it. Cetkovska got seven opportunities to break serve but she availed two of them.
The opener went on neck-to-neck with both women moving the score to 4-4. Cetkovska made the aggressive move in the ninth set and converted some quality winners down the line, including an elegant net volley. She broke the opponent’s serve and then eased
out of the first set 6-4.
Razzano came out firing in the following set, cracking an immediate break on Cetkovska’s serve. The Frenchwoman raced away to 4-0 in the opening fifteen minutes of the second set. The Czech broke the French in the fifth game, only to be broken in the next
one. Razzano completely blew away her opponent to nab the second set at 6-1.
It was expected that the Frenchwoman would carry on her attacking tennis in the decider but it was the other way round. Razzano appeared to be out of steam in the third set. Although she had 70 per cent first serve accuracy, she won merely 29 per cent points
on it. The French broke in the fourth game but dropped her serve three times in the set. Cetkovska cruised past the decider 6-1, clinching a spot in the second round.
Cetkovska will meet the top seed qualifier Rebecca Marino in the next round. The top seed Canadian defeated Tatjana Malek of Germany in the opening round 7-5, 7-5.
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