Polona Hercog topples Nadia Petrova to reach the semi-final – Family Circle Cup 2012
Slovenian 14th seed, Polona Hercog, made her way into the semi-finals of the Family Circle Cup at the expense of the Russian tennis icon, Nadia Petrova. She clasped the win in straight sets 6-1, 6-2.
She took just 68 minutes to clinch her second win against the Russian and sneak ahead 2-1 in the head-to-head series. Last time, she lost to the 29-years-old Russian in the second round of the US Open in New York but this time
she made sure that her opponent had no opportunity whatsoever to take control of the proceedings.
World number 38, Hercog, talked about her triumph at the end of the match. She stated, “I was aggressive from the beginning. Nadia's a very experienced player. We were 1-1 before this match, and it's always a challenge to play
a player of this kind of class, and I'm just very happy with this win. I just tried to focus on myself and adapt my game to the conditions, and it worked well."
Hercog raced past her opponent with a lead of 5-0 in the opening set courtesy to three back-to-back breakthroughs. She was broken in the sixth game of the set but squashed her opponent in the following game to win the set in quick
succession.
Nothing was going right for the Russian and she was broken in the second game of the following set. However, she fought back into the contest with a breakthrough in the third game but was broken right back that sustained the lead
of the Slovenian. Technically, it was an upset in the making as the Russian is ranked 35 in the world; three ranks superior than her opponent.
The Slovenia won the second set with a thumping breakthrough in the eighth game and booked a date with the Czech tennis icon, Lucie Safarova. Talking about her semi-final match, Hercog stated, “Lucie's obviously a very good player
and is very fit, and she's a very nice girl, too. You just have to go into the match and you have to believe. I'll try to mix up my game and let the best player win tomorrow."
It is going to be an enthralling battle between the two talented stars.
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