Sara Errani gusts away Olga Puchkova to reach round two – Brisbane International 2013
Sara Errani started from the same point she left for holidays. She clubbed a straight-set victory, 6-1, 6-3, against the 106th ranked Russian, Olga Puchkova, who qualified for the main round after securing three straight
triumphs.
World number six hardly put a foot wrong in the entire encounter, showing great ability to press her opponent with her agility and securing points at the crucial stages of the set. It was her second head-to-head conquest over the
25-year-old Russian who has been facing fitness problems lately.
Puchkova did the basics right in the first game and gathered a serve hold but fell apart later in the set. She was unable to pressurize her opponent with her serves due to the lack of variety and pace. She fell victim to a hat-trick
of breakpoints and couldn’t prolong the set by pinching in a breakthrough during the return games.
Errani controlled the proceedings in the entire opening set. She manoeuvred the ball at her resolve and didn’t allow Puchkova to settle down; continuously dragged the ball away from the Russian’s reach. However, the 25-year-old
Italian didn’t start the second set in the similar style. She lost the opening serve game to her rival and Puchkova smartly protected the lead with a serve hold to pile pressure on Errani.
Moreover, another breakthrough in the following game for the Russian opened up the set completely. She looked to have learned from her mistakes and found a way out to tackle the accurate serves of her opponent. However, she got
carried away and lost her composure completely in the midst of the second set.
Errani took hold of the proceedings again and captured two back-to-back breakpoints to level the scores at 3-3. Moreover, the onslaught continued in the latter half of the set that witnessed another breakthrough for the Italian
in the eighth game. She held her serve to end the encounter in her favour. It was a fantastic turnaround from the Italian who will be warming up on the eve of Tuesday to face a stern contest from the former world number five, Daniela Hantuchova.
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