Sara Errani beats Pauline Parmentier; progresses into the quarterfinals – XXIV SNAI Open 2011
Two time defending champion Sara Errani knocked out world number No.66, Pauline Parmentier of France in the second round of the tournament 7-5, 6-1, taking one hour and thirty minutes of play.
When the 25-year-old Parmentier started to dominate the opening games in the first set, the Italian player knew she was a dead duck, facing an uphill battle, however, she did not give up the hope and made things work out for the
best, clinching the second set with a breadstick win.
Errani barely avoided the first-set scare as it was some kind of an uncharted territory for the third seed, but she did manage to navigate safely through to the second set.
The Italian third seed is bidding to win the title for the third time while Parmentier was a rookie, who had only played the one and only match on the surface before today in 2010. Although she made a decent fist of her challenge,
the difference in game and knowledge eventually told.
Errani conceded only eleven points on her first serve as the first set flashed by but Parmentier, to her credit, was unfazed and took it to 5-all. Once Errani had raced into the first-set lead there was no stopping her though,
and she concluded the victory with an excellent combination of serve-volley tennis and some punishing groundstrokes.
Such was the control Errani exerted behind her own serve that Parmentier never had a chance in the first set, losing the first set with five games to seven.
Continuing with her ascent in the second set, she sniffed her chance to seize control for a 1-0 lead in the second set and she took it with a breadstick, playing a devilishly sliced forehand which pushed the 25-year-old Frenchwoman
behind the baseline.
Parmentier was about to serve for the second game but she was only delaying the inevitable as Errani served out to grab the match.
Having escaped against Parmentier, a tough second-round opponent by any standard, Errani at least now has the opportunity to build her form and confidence as the tournament continues. However, she is not expected to have much trouble
against the eighth-seeded Czech, Petra Cetkovska, whom she has never met before.
Without boasting of her straight sets win, she should not expect the result to exactly follow the same pattern and must enter the next round with some new strategies if she desires to clinch the title for the third time.
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