Sara Errani lacks consistency and focus
There is not so much to tout about No. 35 Sara Errani who is competing for the 2010 French Open Women’s Singles. But “Poco Gigante,” as she is sometimes called seems pussyfooting into the every tennis tournaments, maybe not winning them but at least making it through the rounds.
She started the year on three hard courts, all of which she competed in January. After only making to the first round of Brisbane International 4-6, 6-2, 2-6, she swiftly reached the semifinals of Moorilla Hobart International 2-6, 0-6 and soon after touched the third round of the Australian Open 1-6, 7-6 (7-4), 3-6. Then in March, she played at the Monterrey Open where she made it through the third rounds of the BNP Paribas Open losing to Jelena Jankovic. At the Sony Ericsson Open, Errani again barged into the rounds but fell to a top-seeded Vera Zvonareva. It is in these tournaments that Errani captured the eyes of tennis followers, who now think Errani possesses some raw talent.
The rest of her matches this year so far were played on her favorite surface, the clay. In February she took off as 3rd seed at the Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas wherein she defeated Anastasiya Yakimova from Belarus 6-0, 6-4 in the first round and Silvia Soler Espinosa 6-3, 6-1 in the second round before taking an upset from Spanish Arantxa Parra Santonja 5-7, 2-6 in the quarterfinals.
Next was the Abierto Mexicano TELCEL presentado por HSBC, where Errani received as high as 6th seed, but was stunned in the second round by Masa Zec Peskiric from Slovenia 6-3, 6-2. After tough games played on hard court, the Italian player kicked off April by making strides in few tournaments. Yet again, the Italian experienced inconsistencies in her game, resulting early exits in the hands of compatriots Flavia Pennetta 6-1 6, 1, Dutch Arantxa Rus 6-1, 6-2, Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-1, 7-6 (7-1), and Spaniard Beatriz Garcia Vidagany 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-3.
At the Barcelona Ladies Open, Errani was beaten by Romanian and World No. 32 Alexandra Dulgheru 6-2, 3-6, 6-7 (5-7) after defeating Argentine Gisela Dulko 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4). Errani nearly pulled off a comeback from the three points down but the Italian eventually faltered. At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Na Li defeated her 1-6, 1-6, at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia Alexandra Dulgheru thwarted her 6-2, 1-6, 4-6 while at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open she was over powered by German Andrea Petkovic 7-6 (7-3), 1-6, 5-7, both were first round loss.
Errani followed that frustrating week by a solid performance at the Warsaw Open where she finally moved on to the quarterfinals but was once again beaten by World No. 12 and 7th seed Na Li 2-6, 1-6 after defeating Serbian Bojana Jovanovski in the first round 6-1, 6-0 and Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova 7-6 (9-7), 6-3 in straight sets on the next round. The Italian could not respond to Na Li’s array of crosscourt and backhand shots.
Her latest accomplishment in a Grand Slam tournament was her 3rd round appearance at the Australian Open hard court match. She still has a lot to prove despite her latest performance was a bit impressive. Guess she needs to rely on the unpredictability of every singles tennis match in the event.
Tennis Critics believe Errani still needs more tough matches to discover her true capabilities. Though the Italian possesses the skills of a top-notch tennis player, Errani still lacks consistency and focus, which are the formula for success in women’s tennis. These factors are also the reasons for her downfall in this year’s French Open. Errani surprisingly fell to a 22-year-old Kazakh named Yaroslava Shvedova.
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