Sorana Cirstea blasts away Anastasia Rodionova to reach the main draw – Generali Ladies Linz 2011
Seventh seeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea crushed Australian Anastasia Rodionova with a breadstick to secure a main draw spot at the Generali Ladies Linz Open 2011, a WTA International event held on the indoor hard courts in Linz,
Austria. She registered a 6-1, 6-2 victory over the 29-year-old Aussie to advance into the main draw on Monday.
Ranked 78th in the Sony Ericsson WTA Premier rankings, Cirstea flash past the Aussie, ranked 37 spots below her, in sixty-five minutes on their second encounter. She kept her winning momentum from her last duel in Bali
and after earning this straight set victory, the Romanian booked a spot in the main draw of this Tier-II event.
21-year-old Romanian made a terrible entry in the Intersport Arena as she gifted away her serve in the opening game to trail 0-1. However, she roared back with an amazing reply as she unleashed flurry of groundstrokes to reel off
all six games in a row. Regardless of clobbering a lower first serve share of 52 percent as compared to Aussie’s 83 percent, she registered an acceptable 54 percent win on it. Cirstea failed to save one out of two breakpoints faced but capitalised on three
out of five breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to earn the bagel.
The beaming Romanian carried momentum from the first set to the second and got the desiderated break in the opening game. She then maintained her composure to keep entire serves and broke Rodionova’s serve again in the seventh
game to seal the set with a 6-2 score line. She manifested an acceptable first serve share of 61 percent this time and earned an impressive 64 percent win on it. Further displaying her impressive skills, Cirstea fended off all three breakpoints faced and converted
two out of three breakpoint opportunities to her advantage.
Next up for the Romanian is another Austrian Tamira Paszek in the first round. The qualifier needs to stay focus and play her original game to triumph over Paszek.
Top seeded Croat Petra Martic will be joining Cirstea in the main draw. She dumped Great Britain’s Naomi Broady in straight sets on their first meeting.
World number fifty-two, Martic saved the only breakpoint faced and converted three out of five breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to seal the deal with a 6-4, 6-2 score line. She also manifested a higher first serve share
of 57 percent as compared to Broady’s 53 percent and registered a magnificent 75 percent win on it.
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