Sofia Arvidsson trounces Bojana Jovanovski to clear round one - Kremlin Cup 2012
World number 46, Sofia Arvidsson, squashed the 55th ranked Serb, Bojana Jovanovski, in the opening round clash of the Kremlin Cup on Monday. She registered an emphatic straight sets score line of 6-2, 6-4 taking just
an hour and 27 minutes at the hard courts of Moscow.
The 20-year-old Serb fought hard to earn a serve hold in the first game and turned the tables on her rival in the second game to make it 2-0 in her favour courtesy a well deserved breakthrough. However, she couldn’t hold on to
that lead and lost the breakpoint in the following game that brought the players back on serve.
Arvidsson took command of the match from that stage and didn’t allow her rival to settle in any of the remaining games of the opening set. She kept on coming with a different strategy in every game to bamboozle the Serb who wasn’t
able to read the mind of her opponent at all. The Swede superstar broke serve twice in succession and didn’t falter on her serve to close down the opening set proceedings in quick succession.
It was a fantastic start for the 28-year-old Swede who had a nervy beginning to the contest. Jovanovski started the second set in the required fashion; held her serve with ease and had her opponent in all sorts of trouble in the
second game before squandering a breakpoint. Both players traded breakpoints in the earlier phase of the set that didn’t hurt anyone’s cause. Arvidsson held her serve in the sixth game to make it 3-3.
A flurry of breakthroughs ignited some interest from the crowd. Both players contested three breakpoints in a row that allowed the Swede to take a lead of 5-4. The Serb was expected to break serve back to keep the set alive but
couldn’t do the basics right and gifted the triumph to her rival after a gruelling battle.
The second seed Frenchwoman, Marion Bartoli, who received a first round Bye will be limbering up on the eve of Tuesday to take on Sofia Arvidsson in the battle for a spot in the last eight.
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