Romina Oprandi’s injury pushes Jelena Dokic into the final – UNICEF Open 2011
Unseeded Australian, Jelena Dokic, made it to the final of the UNICEF Open by winning the semi-final clash against the world number 82, Romina Oprandi of Romania on Friday noon.
59th ranked Dokic bagged the opener at 6-4 and was leading the second set 2-0 when Oprandi withdrew from the contest for the reason of her shoulder injury, forfeiting the match in the Australian’s favour and giving her
easy pass to the final of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) tournament.
The contest appeared pretty one-sided, with Dokic dominating most of the time. The Aussie was very quick to get her hold over the game and fully capitalised the sloppy start of Oprandi in contest. The Romanian appeared shaky right
from the start and her errant stroke play depicted the clear symptoms of confusion from the 25-year-old.
Dokic has already won a WTA championship title earlier this year and has won 16 out of 27 matches she contested in the current season. The Australian appeared in sublime form throughout the tournament and sustained the winning
momentum in the semi-final encounter against Oprandi as well to earn a title shot in the final.
The two contestants served with almost similar precision in the contest but it was Dokic who converted most of her opportunities to come out as the winner. She secured 24 out of 35 first serve points and converted three out of
three break points to drive her opponent out of the competition.
Oprandi had four opportunities to break the Aussie serve but her unforced errors at critical moments of the match led her down, as she cashed in just one break chance in the curtailed version of the game. The Romanian had a good
start to the contest but gradually lost way as the game progressed, hinting her debilitating physical condition.
The Aussie took the opener with aggression, breaking the opponent early to put pressure upon her but the young Romanian replied with the same. The scores were tied at 4-all when Dokic made her move, striking a crucial serve break
to wrap up the opening set at 6-4 and then went on to lead 2-0 in the following set.
After dropping serve in the second set, Oprandi finally signalled the chair umpire that she was in no condition of carrying on playing and withdrew from the contest. Dokic will take on the seventh seed Italian, Roberta Vinci, in
the final of the tournament on Saturday.
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