Sara Errani, Kimiko Date-Krum advance into the next round – UNICEF Open 2011
Italian tennis-pro Sara Errani sailed into the second round of 2011 UNICEF Open with a fabulous 7-6 (8), 6-1 victory over Dutch Kiki Bertens on Tuesday here in Hertogenbosch. Ranked 35th in the Women’s Tennis Association
rankings, Errani faced a tough challenge in the opening set however she looked on top of her game as she completed a comfortable victory in a match that lasted for only 1 hour and 22 minutes.
Looking in great touch, Errani made a confident start to the contest. Bertens was also up for the challenge as she created all sorts of problems for the Italian. After both players broke each other regularly, the sent went into
a tie-breaker. Showing no signs of nerves, Errani clinched the tie-breaker 10-8 to take the set score lead 1-0.
Inflicting heavy blows on her opponent, Errani displayed some high quality tennis in the following set. Breaking serve twice, she did not allow the challenger to breath. Coming close to the net every now and then, the Italian made
use of the drop shot extremely effectively. Being the less experienced of the two players, Bertens failed to handle the heat and leaked quite a few unforced errors. Smashing a wonderful backhand winner, Errani set up two match points for her and then converted
one of them to seal victory.
The 24-year-old Errani will be facing second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in her next match-up at the US $ 220,000 tournament. To yield similar results, she must bring consistency in her game play. Bertens put up good fight but she
lacked the firepower in certain areas of the game. Five costly double faults combined with her slow foot work made things very difficult for her as she walked away with a forgettable loss.
Japanese tennis-pro Kimiko Date-Krum secured a comfortable victory over Spanish Lourdes Dominguez Lino 7-6 (3), 6-0 to make it to the quarterfinals of the WTA 250 series tournament.
Krumm made a slow start to the match. She struggled to time the ball and leaked a number of unforced errors in the opening set. Lino grabbed the opportunities with both hand and made the Japanese pay heavily for her mistakes. After
the contestants broke each other twice, the set went in to a tie-breaker. Using her vast experience at the international effectively, Krum won the tie-breaker 7-3 to pocket the opener.
Not allowing her opponent any sort of room to play her shots, Krumm looked on top her game in the second set as well. Breaking the serve three times in the set, she finished the match in style. In the quarterfinal, she will be
meeting Romina Oprandi of Italy.
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