Roberta Vinci vs. Jelena Dokic – Final Preview: UNICEF Open 2011
Final show down at the Autotron park in Rosmalen, near 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, will be held between the world number 30, Roberta Vinci of Italy and the 59th ranked Australian Jelena Dokic in the final of the UNICEF
Open on Saturday.
The highly anticipated final will feature two of the craftiest women in the women’s tennis world, battling it out to grab the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) grass-court title. Both contestants have displayed brilliant form throughout
the tournament and a nail biting final clash is expected when these two world class tennis players strain to capture the last stop before Wimbledon.
The Italian exhibited her sheer brilliance all the way to the final of the UNICEF Open, devastating every single opponent she met and winning all of her initial round matches in the most assertive manner. Vinci has not dropped
a single set en route to the final and registered five straight sets victories to get a title shot in the final.
28-year-old Vinci worked hard to overcome her semi-final opponent, the world number 23, Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia to book a date with Dokic in the final. The Italian edged Cibulkova in the opener after some amazing display
of accurate ground strokes and then carried on her momentum in the following set to finish her demolition job, sealing victory at 7-5, 6-1.
The Italian veteran already defeated the third seed Yanina Wickmayer in the quarter-final in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, to hint her sublime current form. Seeded seven in the event, Vinci is certainly the stronger contender to take
the gold in the Saturday’s final.
The Australian competitor is the other one who is yet to lose a set in the tournament and has outplayed all of her opening round rivals in straights. Dokic clinched the opening set 6-4, and was leading the second set 2-0 against
Romina Oprandi in the semi-final, when the Romanian contestant pulled off the competition due to injury. The unseeded Dokic defeated the fourth seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy in the second round of the tournament and has a sky high confidence for winning her
seventh WTA career title on the Dutch land.
Dokic had a tough time against Johanna Larsson of Sweden in the quarter-final clash but managed to take down her resilient opponent in straight sets 7-6(2), 6-4. The Australian has already won 17 matches in the running WTA season
and has also bagged a championship title this year as well.
Vinci and Dokic have never faced each other in a singles matchup and this makes the contest between them more unpredictable. It will be interesting to see that what strategies the Australian will adopt against the hard-hitting
Vinci, renowned for her powerful ground strokes and accurate serve.
Both women have won the similar number of matches this year (i.e. 16) but Vinci has been on the losing side more often. Dokic has lost 11 times in this season, while the Italian has suffered 16 defeats and has a championship in
her bag as well. The statistics of both women this year suggest an evenly poised contest between the two but being the seventh seed in the tournament, it can be said that Vinci is the favourite for winning the title on Saturday.
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