Petra Martic overcomes Zarina Diyas in second round – WANLIMA Women’s Open 2011
Number four seed Petra Martic of Croatia battled past Kazakh tennis pro Zarina Diyas 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday to book her place in the quarterfinal round of 2011 WANLIMA International Women’s Open here in Guangzhou, China.
The Croat looked in stunning form in a match that lasted for nearly 1 hour and 57 minutes on the hard courts of Guangzhou. Although she took some time to settle down, she looked in complete control in closing stages of the match.
She will be very happy with the way she responded to a difficult situation after she was 0-1 down in the set score.
Martic, however, struggled to get her first serves in. Hitting only 44 per cent of her first, she must improve on her serves significantly if she wants to be effective against other top seeded players at the Women’s Tennis Association
tournament. The world number 55 should bring more consistency into her game play as tougher opponent may not let her get away with her unforced errors.
Ranked 171st in the world, Diyas made a strong start to the match as she broke the serve in the very first game of the opening set. Playing with confidence, she took her chances and soon found herself leading the game
score 4-1. Martic also changed her gears and she broke back twice to stay in the set. However, she failed to stop her opponent from earning a well deserved set score lead 1-0.
Looking for an entry back into the match, Martic raised the level of her game play and she displayed some high quality tennis from the baseline in the following set. Breaking the serve at regular intervals, she dented her opponent’s
confidence levels. Playing in a well disguised drop shot, she evened the set score to force the match into the decider.
Both players put up a brave fight. However, it was Martic who came out on top with 5-4 lead, serving for the match. Showing no signs of nerves, she completed her victory in an emphatic fashion to advance into the next round of
WTA tournament.
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