Serena Williams vs. Lucie Safarova title-round preview – Family Circle Cup 2012
Former world number one, Serena Williams, will square off against the ultra-fit Czech, Lucie Safarova, in the final showdown at the Family Circle Cup 2012 on Sunday. The local star reached this spot after crushing Samantha Stosur with double breadsticks. However, the Czech ace crippled her opponent, Polona Hercog, with double bagels to cruise into the finals.
Encountering each other for the fifth time, Safarova is in her top form and is bidding to conquer the American for the first time. After slaying Hercog without losing a single game, Safarova assertively breezed into the final round at this green clay court event.
"Yeah, I got you," Safarova said Williams after clinching her match against the Slovene. "It's a great challenge. She's a great player and you see what she's done today."
The left-handed Czech showed flawless performance throughout her match against the 14th seed. She blocked all three breakpoints she faced and cashed in six out of nine break chances to manipulate this spectacular 6-0, 6-0 victory. She produced a slightly lower first serve share of 64 per cent but impressively availed 19 out of 28 points on it.
Safarova had a monotonous season so far but she unleashed her true form at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier event. She crushed the Croatian qualifier, Mirjana Lucic, with a bagel in her opening match. She then rallied past Canada’s Aleksandra Wozniak to set-up a date with the world number nine, Vera Zvonareva. Safarova stunned the Russian number two in straight sets to meeting Hercog in the semis.
The fifth seed on the other hand has not lost a single set at the Family Circle Tennis Center. She re-kindled her old spark and blasted past Elena Vesnina and Marina Erakovic in straight sets to advance into the quarters. Williams, however, earned a retirement victory against Sabine Lisicki to battle the reigning US Open champion, Stosur.
The 30-year-old American got the better of Stosur in just under an hour after showing solid display of tennis. She warded off both breakpoints she faced and capitalised on five out of seven break opportunities to steal the show. Williams nudged up a lower first serve share of 52 per cent but tremendously availed 21 out of 23 points on it.
"I have to say this is probably the best match I've played in my career either in a long time or it's up there in the Top 5," Williams was quoted in a post-match conference. "Sam is such an excellent clay court player, and she's Top 10, Top 5. It was one of those days I could have done anything against anybody. Maybe I could have beaten Andy again. I'm definitely ready for him now - just today."
Overall, Williams seems to found her old rhythm and is expected to extend her winning streak against the Czech after registering 6-3, 6-2 success. However, the crowd favourite, Williams, should not take the high flying Czech lightly and needs to fire more aces to easily prevail in the match.
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