Silvia Soler-Espinosa slays Alberta Brianti in the opening round – Internazionali BNL d’Italia 2012
World number 60, Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain, had a resounding victory over the Italian veteran, Alberta Brianti, in the opening round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Tuesday afternoon. The Spanish qualifier took barely
67 minutes to wrap up the proceeding in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1, marching into the round of 32 at the WTA (Women’s Association) Premier 5 event in Rome, Italy.
Soler-Espinosa exhibited another display of high quality clay-court tennis to drive the 32-year-old Italian out of the tournament with authority. She spared on three games in the entire matchup for Brianti and raced through the
sets with commanding ease. The Spaniard had already defeated Brianti in the opening round of the Indian Wells Masters earlier this season and her Tuesday’s victory levelled the head-to-head record at 2-2 against the 104th ranked Italian.
It was a completely one-sided contest, with Soler-Espinosa dominating every second of it. Despite of a below par serve precision of just 44 per cent in the match, the Spanish qualifier dropped merely three points on her first serve,
pocketing 15 out of 18, en route to victory. She crafted a total of eight break opportunities in the contest but only five conversion proved sufficient for her to conclude the thumping victory. On the other hand, the Italian veteran could merely register one
break point in the entire matchup to finish on the losing side in the end.
The contest took off with an early trade of serve breaks from both sides, followed by a regular game to take the scores to 3-2 in favour of the Spanish. Soler-Espinosa shifted her gears from there onwards and stung two successive
serve breaks to seal the opening set at 6-2.
She went on with her winning impetus in the following set and a single break point took her to 4-1 in not time. Another cracking break of serve proved fatal for Brianti, who had no option but to submit at 1-6 to let Soler-Espinosa
through to the second round of the Rome Masters.
Soler-Espinosa will next face the former world number one, Ana Ivanovic, in the second round clash later this week. The Serbian diva defeated the Russian veteran, Svetlana Kuznetsova, in the opening round on Monday.
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