Shuai Peng downs Vera Zvonareva; next is Caroline Wozniacki in the final of Brussels Ladies Open
If Vera Zvonareva was hoping for an easy semi-final match at the Brussels Ladies Open, she did not get her wish as world No. 31 Shuai Peng shrugged off her first round defeats in Madrid and Rome to enter the Brussels Open finals
where she will tackle the world number one Caroline Wozniacki in an attempt to win the title.
Peng, the eighth seed, enjoyed a 6-3, 6-3 win over the Russian in Friday’s semi-final, winning the match in just one hour and twenty minutes. Zvonareva led their head-to-head sequence by 7-0, and it looked as if the match was going
to be a one-sided affair, but the Chinese ace showed her spark and completely dominated the Russian right from the beginning.
The 25-year-old Chinese relied on her powerful serve to pressure Zvonareva throughout the match and capitalized on the Russian’s string of unforced errors to enter her first final since 2008 where she reached the finals at Forest
Hills and Guangzhou, before losing to Lucie Safarova and Vera Zvonareva respectively.
Peng kicked off the match very tenaciously and made her Russian opponent run hard for every point. The Chinese smashed powerful winners and hardly allowed Zvonareva any space to place her shots, narrowing the angles by coming close
to the net often. The Russian ace on the other hand conceded that she had no chance against the superior force of Peng and lost the first set with a 6-3 score line.
After taking the first set against the world No. 3, Peng looked set to cruise to the second after securing the early break before the tenacious Russian broke back to ensure the Chinese seed would be made to work for her victory.
Having lost the first set, Zvonareva then stopped Peng’s attempts to serve out the match, breaking again to level the score at 3-3 in the second set, before the world No. 31 broke again to set up a second opportunity to serve out
the match. The Chinese ace continued to play tremendously and reeled off three consecutive games on her way to a straights sets victory.
Peng closed out the match with seven aces and three double faults. Moreover, she scored 65 percent on service, 48 percent on return and 57 percent of points in total. In comparison, Zvonareva lost the match with a difference of
14 percent points in total.
Peng now moves on ahead to face the world. No 1 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark at the final of Brussels Ladies Open. Defeating Wozniacki though will not be an easy task for the Chinese, who will enter the match with 2-1 head-to-head
record against her. Wozniacki won their most recent encounter, a two-set battle in the third round of the 2009 Family Circle Cup in Charleston.
Peng will have to come up with something extraordinary if she desire any success against the irrepressible Dane.
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