Polona Hercog edges past Nadia Petrova in the opening round – New Haven Open 2011
Former world n umber three, Nadia Petrova of Russia, continued with her drought of the season, suffering a first round defeat at the hands of the 41st ranked Slovenian contestant, Polona Hercog, at New Haven Open at Yale, on Monday afternoon.
Currently reigning the 25th spot in the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association), Petrova was stunned by the brilliance of the unseeded Slovenian, who wrapped up victory in straight sets 7-5, 7-5, to make it to the second round of the Premier Series tournament. Petrova fought valiantly for two hours and sixteen minutes before she was forced to submit to the belligerent Hercog in the second set, ending her voyage at the last stop of the US Open Series.
It was a fairly poised contest, with both contestants labouring equally hard to take the better of each other. Hercog beat her opponent in most segments of the game to come out as the winner in the end. Her points winning proficiency was phenomenal in the contest, so was her rock solid baseline defence. The Slovenian crafted a total of nine break opportunities in the contest and converted six of them en route to victory, while Petrova cashed in four out of 10 break points she had in the match.
The Russian was led down by her error-ridden game, as she coughed a number of mistakes in the matchup, including six expensive double faults in the opening set alone to assist Hercog in her victory. Petrova was off to a fine start in the opener, breaking the opponent in the very first game to lead 2-0 but frittered away the early advantage by her poor stroke making to let Hercog in the game.
The Russian cracked in two serve breaks in the first set but had to suffer three from the aggressive Hercog to drop the opener at 5-7. The Slovenian carried on her winning impetus in the following set as well but went through some tough time before she gets to victory. Petrova broke her serve twice but Hercog stung three more break point conversions to take the better of her opponent and finished of the contest at 7-5 to get through the second round.
A huge challenge awaits Hercog in the second round of New Haven Open, as she will take on the world number one, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, for a place in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
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