Russian tandem down Craybas/Stephens to reach quarters – Internazionali BNL D’Italia 2012
Russian duo, Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, stomped over the American contenders, Jill Craybas and Sloane Stephens, in straight sets at the Internazionali BNL D’Italia 2012 on Thursday. They nudged up a 6-4, 6-2 success against the Americans to progress
into the final eight at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Five event taking place from 12th to 20th May in Rome.
The in-form Russian collaboration of Makarova and Vesnina broke their opponents’ serve six times to rule the match. After earning the limelight in one hour and eight minutes, the Russians confidently booked a spot in the quarter-finals at Foro Italico.
"Won our doubles, 64 62," Vesnina stated in a social networking site after the match. "Sill a bit windy in Rome. Happy to be through. Tomorrow quarters at 12 on Court 2."
Makarova and Vesnina made a drastic start at this red clay court event and after losing their serve twice, they went 1-4 down. However, the Russians made a spectacular reply and went on a five-game killing spree. The brushed off one out of three breakpoints
they faced and capitalised on three out of five break chances to inch towards the fame.
The Russian junction suffered the first blow again in the follow-up set but recovered quickly in the very next game. After the Americans held their serve in the fourth game, Makarova and Vesnina wiped out the last four games in a row and bagged the set with
a 6-2 win.
All in all, the Russians clobbered a lower first serve share of 70 per cent as compared to their opponents’ 80 per cent but impressively clicked 21 out of 37 points on it.
Next up for Makarova and Vesnina is the Taiwanese-Russian tandem, Kai-Chen Chuang and Vera Dushevina, who bounced back to conquer the local wild card entrants, Maria Elena Camerin and Karin Knapp, to set-up this meeting.
The fifth seeded Russians, Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova, will accompany their fellow citizens in the last eight. They dumped the Czech-Spanish pair, Iveta Benesova and Anabel Medina Garrigues, in straight sets in one hour and 22 minutes to steal the
show.
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