Russia’s Nadia Petrova beats Italy’s Roberta Vinci to advance into second round of Qatar Ladies Open
Former world number three, Russia’s Nadia Petrova, defeated Italy’s Roberta Vinci by straight sets of 6-4, 6-2 at the Doha Women’s Tennis Association Premier event on 21
February, 2011.
Petrova, world ranked 22, has been among the best for almost a decade now. Recently she has not had an impressive 2010 and had a 50 per cent winning record for her last ten matches. Her best result this year has been the third round at the Australian Open,
as she lost to her compatriot thirteenth seed Ekaterina Makarova. Before entering this WTA Premier event, she lost in the second round at Paris.
Vinci, ranked at number 37 among the WTA rankings, had also won 5 of her last 10 matches. She has managed to come close to winning a title so far this year when she secured a quarter-final berth at Hobart and lost to the eventual champion Jarmila Groth.
Vinci also reached the semi-finals at the Pattaya Open, where she lost to her compatriot eighth seed Sara Errani. Recently, before entering this tournament, she lost in the second round at Dubai.
Both veterans started the match in their best form. They exchanged breaks once early in the opening set and kept the match spectacular. After the scores were level at 4-4, the Russian won the set with another break of serve and hammered two aces. She produced
lower first serve percentage of 44 per cent to Vinci’s 60 per cent, as she registered an impressive 64 per cent win on it. Her return point winning percentage of 50 per cent was far better compared to Vinci’s 38 per cent.
In the second set, Vinci worked out sharp angles with her single handed back-hand to penetrate the Russian’s defences. She managed to win two games including one win with a break of serve and levelled the scores 2-2. Petrova was unstoppable as she won the
next four games by thrashing magnificent fore-hands and firing in 2 aces. She had a much better first serve percentage of 56 to Vinci’s 48 per cent, as she earned an amazing 71 per cent win on it.
Petrova has now levelled their head to head series by 1-1, with her amazing display of her stunning skills and abilities in this match.
The Russian will now be facing the world number one and the tournament’s top seed Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in the round of 16 at Doha. She will have to practice hard and focus on Wozniacki’s weaknesses to overpower her.
It will be exciting to see how these two highly competitive players battle it out for the top honours in Doha. The tennis fans will definitely have something to cheer about.
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