Shuai Peng battles past Kirsten Flipkens to advance at Brussels Ladies Open
Eighth seed Shuai Peng of China rallied past Belgian Kirsten Flipkens in a three set thriller at 2011 Open de Bruxelles, a WTA Premier event held in Brussels, Belgium. She barely survived the second set but displayed exceptional skills in the first and the last set to register a 6-0, 1-6, 6-3 success over the Belgian on Tuesday.
World number 31, Chinese took one hour and forty-two minutes to down Flipkens, ranked 65 places below her, at Royal Primerose Tennis Club. Both 25-year-old veterans met each other for the first time.
Peng thundered into the opening set and unleashed her flurry of ground strokes to reel off first six games in a row. She faced zero breakpoint and converted three out of four breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to earn the bagel. The Chinese had a higher first serve share of 67 percent as compared to Flipkens 53 percent and registered an amazing 83 percent win on it.
The Belgian got on track in the second set and broke Peng’s serve in the very first game. She kept her rage mode to win next three games in a row before the Chinese could find her footing. Flipkens then held her serve in the following game and broke the Chinese’s serve again in the last game to clinch the equaliser with a breadstick. Although she produced a poor first serve share, she registered an impressive 86 percent win on it.
The seeded Chinese smoothly held her opening serve in the decider to square the scores at 1-1. She then leaped frog over the Belgian in the next game to take the lead. Peng broke the Belgian’s serve again in the seventh game and exchanged a break in the last two games to seal the set with a 6-3 win. She outclassed Flipkens in every department of tennis in this final set and her 70 percent first serve share was much better than Flipkens’ 49 percent.
Up next for the 5-ft 8-in Chinese is the 5’9” American qualifier, Abigail Spears who triumphed over South African Chanelle Scheepers in straight sets on another court to reach this spot.
Peng’s fellow countrywoman, Jie Zheng couldn’t share the same fate. She was ousted by Japanese Ayumi Morita who earned a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 victory in two hours and seven minutes. The Chinese clobbered several unforced errors and six double faults. She converted five out of nine breakpoint opportunities to her advantage and saved eleven breakpoints faced but it wasn’t enough to triumph over the Japanese.
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