Polona Hercog reigns over Alberta Brianti in the second round – XXIV SNAI Open 2011
Polona Hercog of Slovenia reached the quarterfinals of 2011 XXIV SNAI Open with a comprehensive 6-2, 6-4 victory over Alberta Brianti of Italy in the second round of the tournament.
The Slovenian opened the set nervously, making a number of unforced errors to dump her early advantage and handing over Brianti an immediate 2-0 lead. However, she bounced back in the third game and broke her opponent thrice to
reel off six straight games as she clinched the first set with a 6-2 score line.
The 31-year-old Brianti had been a difficult opponent in the past, winning the pair’s first meeting and dominating a 1-0 lead in the head-to-head series, but this time Hercog delivered a brilliant display on serve, and in particular,
some amazing defensive tennis which frustrated Brianti no end, cutting the deficit to stay on equal terms.
Banking on her prior performance against the Slovenian, the Italian did show some of her aggressive tennis from the very start of the match, but Hercog, unlike the previous encounter, had all the answers at almost every turn, forcing
Brianti to buzz off.
The Slovenian broke to lead 6-2 and just wasted a single break point opportunity en route to the second set.
As the second set unfolded, Hecog rallied her forces to churn out points after points with a supreme combination of serve-and-volley play to go 2-0.
With the Italian crowd against her, the Slovenian did not let her composure waived and held her nerves tight to enter the quarterfinals of the tournament in her very own style.
With this win, Hercog has improved her year-to-date win/loss mark to 21/17 matches and now marches on into the quarterfinals of the tournament. As for Brianti, it looked as if the clay-surface was becoming detrimental to her chances,
losing the match in just 90 minutes of play.
Among all the lucky winners on Wednesday, sixth-seeded Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria also paved her way into the quarterfinals after ousting Sorana Cirstea of Romania with a 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 scoreline.
Despite losing the first set, the Bulgarian tennis ace looked all-confident and played for keeps in an attempt to pull off a last-minute victory. Proving to be the better player statistically, she clinched the match with a whopping
difference of fifteen points and managed to enter the next round where she will be meeting with the top-seed, Flavia Pennetta of Italy.
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