Petra Kvitova breezes past Vera Zvonareva in round robin stage – WTA Championships 2011
Wimbledon 2011 champion Petra Kvitova got rid of sixth seeded Vera Zvonareva in their first round robin match of the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships 2011. The players had battled it out on indoor hard courts of Sinan Erdem Dome in Istanbul, Turkey. After simply one hour and twenty five minutes Czech Kvitova triumphed over Zvonareva in straight sets of 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday the 25th of October 2011.
Initiating the first round of the match was Zvonareva, who had just won the toss but she was unable to hold her serve. Serve switched and as Kvitova served her forehand shot went wayward and she too was unable to hold her. After trading breaks the players placed themselves at 1-1 on the scoreboard. In the following two games the players again broke each other back-to-back and the scoreboard shifted to 2-2.
It was extremely unfortunate as Zvonareva had double faulted on her serve in the fifth game and endorsed a breakpoint to Kvitova. Nevertheless, Kvitova not only capitalized on the break but also held her serve in the sixth game and the score had progressed to 4-2. Zvonareva was unable to rise to the occasion and once more as she served, her shot went haywire. Mean while, the winner of five titles this year (Kvitova) once more benefitted from a break and as she smashed a backhand winner, she clogged the opening set with a 6-2 victory.
The second set of the match was also kicked off by Zvonareva and she once more erred on her first serve. It was just not Zvonareva’s day and she let the unforced errors creep into her game. On the other hand, Kvitova profited from the breakpoint and then with a hold of serve comfortably placed herself on the scoreboard at 2-0. In subsequent two games the players expertly handled their service games and the score advanced to 3-1 with Kvitova leading the game.
Amidst the fifth and the sixth games the challengers broke each other one after the other and by the end of the sixth game the score had further moved to 4-2. However, Zvonareva was quick to close in on the gap and in the following two games she not only capitalized on a break but also held her serve to tie the score at 4-4. In the ninth game, Zvonareva gifted away a crucial break to the Czech, who then served for the match in the tenth game and as she held her serve, she sealed her victory.
Followed by her victory Kvitova said, "To tell the truth I was very nervous but it's important for me that I won my first match and I hope to keep playing well".
Next up for Kvitova is the Pole Agnieszka Radwanska in the next round robin match.
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