Polona Hercog upsets Barbora Strycova to move into the finals – Collector Swedish Open 2011
Yesterday, at the semi-final match of Collector Swedish Open 2011, the 20-year-old Polona Hercog of Slovenia played the devil’s advocate with a deadly blend of aplomb, cleverness and determination to defeat seventh-seeded Barbora
Zahlavova Strycova of Czech Republic 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
Her win against the 25-year-old Strycova sent shockwaves through Czech tennis circles. It was not as much that Hercog came out on top of her more experienced opponent, but more the manner in which the Slovenian woman went about
the task.
Breaking her opponent's serve early in the opening set, Hercog looked the more confident in front of the Swede crowd. Defying the Strycova serve with some fluttering returns, the Slovenian lady constantly pressurised the Strycova's
most destructive weapon.
While Strycova rallied back from a break down to level the match at 2-2, Hercog was almost icy under pressure. At 4-2, with the weight of Strycova’s topspin forehand and the Swede crowd cheering on her, Hercog duly went about her
work to win the opener with six games to two.
Playing close to baseline, Hercog looked dangerous in the most important moments of the second set. She raced to a 4-0 lead, watching on as threatening Strycova made a whopping number of uncharacteristic errors. But the second
set quickly reached its climax when Strycova started to cut down her unforced errors and Hercog began to tighten up on her forehand. However, it was the Czech woman who managed to reel off last four games to clinch the second set and tying the set score at
one set apiece.
Into the inevitable third set that few pundits had dared to surmise against the Slovenian, Hercog held an exhausting opening game, only to hand her serve over after making a couple of unforced errors. With the Czech woman leading
4-2, and then 5-4, there seemed to be no way back for Hercog as she struggled to keep up with Strycova’s heavy hitting. However, never say never, as Hercog served for the match, leading 6-5 after two hours, and twenty five minutes of three-set fighting.
Emerging victorious, the 20-year-old Hercog has polished her head-to-head score to 3-0 against the Czech and has added the eighteenth victory to her year-to-date winning mark.
She now marches on into the final of the Collector Swedish Open where she will go up against Johanna Larsson of Sweden, who is coming off a straight sets victory over compatriot Sofia Arvidsson.
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