Roberta Vinci holds Olga Govortsova in round one - BNP Luxembourg Open 2012
World number 15, Roberta Vinci, dispatched the 24-year-old Belarusian, Olga Govortsova, in a three-setter to reach the second round of the BGL BNP Luxembourg Open on Tuesday. The 29-year-old Italian won the first and last set by
6-0 but last the one in between by 2-6.
Vinci was playing the second professional match against the 24-year-old Belarusian. She had won the first battle last year and this was the second straight victory which enhanced the head-to-head lead to 2-0. The Italian veteran
is the top seed contestant in the tournament and expected to go all the way to the final round at least.
Govortsova just won eight points in the opening set whilst her opponent grabbed 24 of them; winning the opening phase with three breakpoints on the trot. It was a bagel that completely dismantled the confidence of the 24-year-old
Belarusian but she recovered emphatically well to bounce back and hold her opponent in the second phase.
The Belarusian broke serve after a swap of breakpoints and held her serve in the sixth game of the set to make it 4-2 in her favour. She repeated a similar performance in the following game to earn another breakpoint that gave
her an unassailable lead of 5-2. She was under the cosh in the final game but hung on to her serve that enforced the final set.
Vinci won the final set with another bagel to her name. She smashed her opponent down winning 27 of the 40 points contested. In a post-match interview, Vinci said, “After the first set I had a lot of chances in the first few games
of the second set but she won them, then she started to play better and I went a little bit down. But in the third set I focused again on being aggressive and just playing my game - a lot of slice, coming to net. That's how I love to play."
She is now comfortably in the second round of the tournament and is scheduled to play the winner of the contest between Anne Keothavong and Kiki Bertens for the spot in the quarters.
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