Sara Errani cruises to the French Open quarter-finals to contest Angelique Kerber – Tennis Special
World number 24, Sara Errani, showed her class once again at the pre-quarters stage of the Roland Garros French Open when she squashed the in-form Russian starlet, Svetlana Kuznetsova, in straight sets 6-0, 7-5.
Errani had never won a match against the 28th ranked Russian at elite platform so she was up against a major record in the making. Finally, she got off the mark and decreased the head-to-head trail to 1-5.
Earlier in the season, she lost in the quarter-final of the ASB Classic in Auckland to the Russian in straight sets. So, the odds were favouring the Russian but the 25-year-old Italian cruised away to book a spot in the last eight.
Kuznetsova started the match in aggressive fashion and powered down her opponent; created an opportunity to break serve but squandered it. In the second game, she was put under pressure by the Italian who wasted one breakpoint
but converted the second to register an early break in the match.
A little resistance from the 26-year-old Russian went in vain as the Italian 21st seed cruised away to a resounding lead of 3-0. Errani broke serve featuring a couple of lightening quick winners down the line; enhanced
the scores to 4-0 and stamped her authority in the match.
The Italian held her serve to love and broke serve for the third time in a row to register an embarrassing bagel in the opening half of the match. It was not what was expected of her because the Russian was in terrific form having
slaughtered the Pole number one, Agnieszka Radwanska, in the previous encounter.
Both players swapped breakpoints at the start of the second set that kept the scores together. However, the Russian took a lead in the seventh game courtesy a breakthrough. She was just a serve hold away from winning the second
set but the Italian showed immense strength to break serve and keep the set alive. She held her serve in the following game to push the scores to 6-5 and swirled the pressure back on her rival.
Kuznetsova had to hold serve to keep the match alive. However, her efforts were not enough to help her stay in the Grand Slam tournament. The performance from the Italian deserved a standing ovation and she received that from the
crowd.
Sara Errani will battle against the 10th seed German, Angelique Kerber, in the hunt to the reach the semi-final stage. Kerber booked a date with the Italian at the expense of the Croatian superstar, Petra Martic, who
came as the surprise package and stopped two seeded players, Marion Bartoli and Anabel Medina Garrigues, on her way. So, it was crucial for the German to put up her best show and she did.
Kerber and Errani are in tremendous run of form and they will not squander a single opportunity to pound on one another. It will be an enthralling battle between the quarter-finalist and possibility of another upset from the hands
of the Italian is not out of equation.
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