Rosolska/Zheng triumph over Bondarenko/Niculescu to reach final – Brussels Open 2012
Third seeded tandem, Poland’s Alicja Rosolska and China’s Jie Zheng, got the better of the Ukrainian-Romanian pair, Kateryna Bondarenko and Monica Niculescu, in straight sets at the Brussels Open 2012 on Friday. They manipulated a 6-3, 7-6(5) success against
their rivals to book a place in the title-round at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier event held in Brussels, Belgium.
The Polish-Chinese collaboration showed superb co-operation to outclass their unseeded opponents in one hour and 22 minutes. Meeting each other for the first time, Rosolska and Zheng powered into the final showdown with conviction.
Rosolska and Zheng thundered into the Royal Primerose Tennis Club and drew the first blood in the opening game to take the initial lead. After breaking their opponents’ serve again in the fifth game, the in-form pair extended their lead to 4-1. Apart from
losing their serve in the sixth game, the Polish-Chinese duo broke their rivals’ serve once again in the last game and clicked the opener with a 6-3 win.
The Polish-Chinese junction kept momentum floating in the proceeding set and after capitalising on four out of 10 break chances, they got the upper hand. Despite failing to save all four breakpoints they came across, Rosolska and Zheng imposed the tie-breaker
and dominated in it to seal the set with a 7-6(5) success.
All in all, the winning junction produced a slightly higher first serve share of 73 per cent as opposed to their rivals’ 72 per cent and amazingly marked 23 out of 41 points on it. They also spilled fewer errors and capitalised on seven out of 16 break opportunities
to rule the match.
Up next for the Rosolska-Zheng tandem are the fourth seeds, America’s Bethanie Mattek-Sands and India’s Sania Mirza, who battled past the Australians, Casey Dellacqua and Anastasia Rodionova, in a three-set thriller to set-up this battle.
The American-Indian combination lost their serve three times but cashed in half of the six break opportunities to formulate a 6-3, 4-6, 10-5 score line in 81 minutes. They jolted down a slightly lower first serve share of 63 per cent as opposed to their
rivals’ 64 per cent but amazingly availed 29 out of 40 points on it.
Tags: