Roberta Vinci downs Zuzana Kucova; advances to the semi-final – Budapest Grand Prix 2011
Top seeded Italian Roberta Vinci needed a third set to overpower Slovakian rising star, Zuzana Kucova in a three set thriller in the quarter-finals of the Poli-Farbe Grand Prix, an International level WTA tournament held in Budapest,
Hungary. She made an epic comeback from a set down to register a 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-3 victory over the 29-year-old Slovak on Friday.
Currently at her career best rank in the Sony Ericson WTA Premier rankings, Vinci earned a comeback victory against the Slovak, ranked 106 places below her, in two hours and seventeen minutes on their first face-to-face. She was
trailing a set and 2-5 down when she hit back to not seal the deal in three sets and to secure a last four spot in this clay court event.
The Slovak entered the court high spiritedly and after exchanging an early break, she broke Vinci’s serve again in the end to clinch the opener with a 6-4 win. Kucova produced a much better first serve share and registered a convincing
58 percent win on it. She saved two out of three breakpoints faced and converted two out of three breakpoint chances to her advantage.
Kucova carried her winning ways into the second set as she held her opening serve comfortably. She then broke the Italian’s serve twice to take a 5-2 lead and was 40-15 up to break again for the match point.
The Taranto native, Vinci got herself together at this time as she bounced back by converting two out of six breakpoint opportunities to her advantage and dragged the set to a tie-breaker. The Italian dominated in it to bag the
equaliser with a 7-6(3) score line.
The Italian outclassed Kucova in the final set and despite failing to save the only breakpoint conceded, she cashed in half of the four breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to clinch the decider with a 6-3 win in just twenty-eight
minutes.
"The match was tough, just like yesterday against Babos," said Vinci after her incredible comeback win. "Zuzana is a good player. She was playing well and fighting for every point. I was trying to keep the ball in the court but
also play as aggressively as possible. I also tried several drop shots and many of them worked because it's such a slow court… I'm really happy I turned the match around. It was a great victory for me."
Up next for the highest ranked player here is the third seeded Czech Klara Zakopalova. 29-year-old Czech slew Bondarenko with a bagel in just under an hour to set-up a clash with the top seed.
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