Sara Errani crushed Alexandra Dulgheru in the quarter-final of the Andalucia Tennis Experience
World number 43 Sara Errani of Italy blew away the 27th ranked Romanian, Alexandra Dulgheru in the quarter-final round of the Andalucia Tennis Experience at Marbella, Spain on Friday noon. In the one-sided contest which
followed, Errani took just 68 minutes of play to settle the straight sets 6-2, 6-2.
The Italian registered her 11th win of the running WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) season to book a semi-final berth at Marbella. Errani finally broke the winning streak of Dulgheru, who had defeated her three consecutive
times on prior occasions, with the last defeat in Rome in 2010. She improves her head-to-head record against the Romanian to 1-3.
Dulgheru had already been struggling in the Andalucia Tennis Experience, as she won both of her initial round matches narrowly in the third sets. She had no chance to withstand the fury of the 23-year-old Italian and merely won
four out of 16 games being played in the contest.
The ballistic Italian had an aggressive start to the contest and broke in the very first game to get early advantage. Her 88 per cent accurate first serve was poorly met by Dulgheru, who merely won 17 out of 47 total points in
the opener. Errani stung two more serve breaks to seal the first set at 6-2 and get one up in the contest.
The next set was a complete replication of the first one, except Dulgheru breaking first to lead 2-1. Her positive start couldn’t hinder the power game of the Italian, who broke back in lead at 3-2. Errani reeled off five consecutive
games and broke her opponent’s serve for three times in total to reach the match point 40-15 at 5-2. She bagged 30 out of 48 total points being played in the second set and marked an end to the competition with a fiery forehand winner at 6-2.
Errani is the first one among the other participants to reach the semi-final of the Andalucia Tennis Experience and has to wait until the other quarter-final clash is settled. The top seed Belarusian Victoria Azarenka will be taking
on the former world number one Dinara Safina in the quarter-final matchup, the winner of whom will play against Errani to get a title shot in the final.
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