Sara Errani dispatches Daniela Hantuchova in the second round - Western and Southern Open 2012
World number 10, Sara Errani, gobbled up straight sets 6-4, 6-4 victory over the 35th ranked Slovak beauty queen, Daniela Hantuchova, to step up in the third round of the Western and Southern Open on Wednesday.
Hantuchova was expected to be the favourite despite having a lower rank than her competitor just because she had a positive head-to-head record and much more experience of playing professional tennis. However, the form of the 25-year-old
Italian clearly made the difference and she managed to improve her head-to-head score by decreasing the trail to 2-4.
Last three encounters were won by the 29-year-old Slovak but the Italian seemed less threatened by the stats and capitalized on her scintillating form to dump the Slovak blonde.
First four games were won by Errani as she managed to take hold of the proceedings with two successive breakpoints. However, the trail was decreased by the Slovak superstar who broke serve in the sixth game and held her serve in
the following to minimize the gap to just 3-4.
Despite working extremely hard on her opponent’s serve, Hantuchova failed to break serve again and the set ended in favour of the French Open finalist. The second set witnessed first six games without a breakthrough but the critical
change in the proceedings featured a breakpoint that was thoroughly deserved by the Italian.
Errani was close on breaking serve earlier in the seventh game but she denied by the net. However, the second shot was inch perfect and she gobbled up the lead.
A serve hold for the Italian after a bit of mishap witnessed her opponent falling to a trail of 3-5. Errani continued to impose authority with commanding returns and she lost just one point in the final game of the match that rounded
off the triumph for her in an hour and 53 minutes.
Sara Errani is scheduled to meet the likes of the former world number one, Venus Williams, in the third round of the tournament. It’s a perfect opportunity for the Italian to take revenge of the first round exit at London Olympics
from the American.
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