Romina Oprandi edges pass Kaia Kanepi in the first round of Internazionali BNL d’Italia
Another upset for the tennis fans at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy, as the 85thranked Romina Oprandi of Italy defeated world number 18, Kaia Kanepi of Estonia in the opening round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia
on Tuesday. The contest lasted for two hours and thirty nine minutes before Oprandi wrapped up victory at 7-5, 3-6, 6-1, to oust Kanepi from the $2,050,000 WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) tournament.
The 25-year-old Italian gave her home crowd a treat to watch, while qualifying for the second round at Rome. Oprandi avenged the defeat she suffered at Kanepi’s hands in the semi-final at Palermo last year. She registered her fifth
win of the running WTA season and improves her head-to-head record against the Estonian by 2-1.
The 18th ranked Estonian put great resistance before falling to Oprandi in the three-set thriller. Kanepi was led down by her huge number of unforced errors, which include 11 costly double faults, bestowing easy points
to her opponent throughout the contest. The 14th seeded Estonian had her chances in the game but she frittered away most of them to end up on the losing side. Although she had thirteen break opportunities, she only cashed in just four in the entire
matchup.
The hard-hitting Oprandi had a positive start to the opener and stung an early serve break to exert pressure upon her opponent. Kanepi was up to the task and she replied with two break points. The opening set kept moving neck-to-neck
with the Italian registering her second serve break of the game. The opener was heading towards a tie breaker round but a timely serve break from Oprandi marked an end to the first set in her favour at 7-5.
Kanepi made a strong comeback in the following set, striking crucial serve breaks to turn the tables on Oprandi. She dropped serve once but carried on clinching points on regularity to seal the second set at 6-3, levelling the
contest at 1-1.
Another major momentum swing took place in the decider, as Oprandi turned ballistic to push Kanepi out of the game. The Estonian lost her steam in the third set and Oprandi took full benefit of it, cracking two vital serve breaks
to reach match point at 5-1. The Italian served out of the contest at 6-1 in the most assertive manner, moving on to the next round of at Rome.
Up next for Oprandi is world number 33, Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia in the second round. Hantuchova had no trouble in disposing off Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, in the opening round of the Internazionali
BNL d’Italia.
Tags: