Sorana Cirstea surprises Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in second round – Generali Ladies Linz 2011
Romanian qualifier Sorana Cirstea upset fourth seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in a three set thriller with her mind blowing skills and tact on Wednesday. She bounced back to register a 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 victory over the 20-year-old
Russian to secure a final eight spot at the Generali Ladies Linz 2011, a WTA Premier International event held on the indoor hard courts in Linz, Austria.
Cirstea, ranked 78th in the Sony Ericsson WTA Premier rankings, turned the tables around to register a three setter victory against the world number 15, Pavlyuchenkova on their third meeting. She not only avenged her
defeat at Turkey last year but also took lead in the head-to-head series by 2-1 against the Russian.
The seeded Russian went berserk in the opening set at the Intersport Arena as she unleashed her true colours to strike out first three games in a row. Regardless of losing her serve in the fourth game and exchanging a break in
the eighth and ninth game, she kept her serve once more in the last game to pocket the opener with a 6-4 win. Pavlyuchenkova saved one out of three breakpoints faced but capitalised on three out of four breakpoint opportunities to her advantage.
Frustrated Cirstea went berserk in the second set and bombarded groundstrokes to wipe out all six games in a row to earn a bagel. She smoothly bagged in entire serves after fending off two breakpoints faced and cashed in on all
three breakpoint chances to her advantage.
The Romanian got the first blood in the second game but failed to hold on to her lead as she lost her serve in the very next game. She exchanged another break of serve a couple of games later to bring her down on even terms again.
It came down to the 10th game of the final set, with Cirstea nailing a critical break point to seal victory for her in an assertive manner. A total of 178 points were played in the matchup, with the Romanian 96 points and her opponent lagging behind
with just 82 points to finish on the losing side in the end.
The Bucharest native, Cirstea took exactly two hours to battle past the seed. She will next lock horns with Czech Lucie Safarova who trashed Italian Alberta Brianti in straight sets to reach this spot.
The Czech starlet quickly bagged in entire serves without facing any breakpoint and converted three out of four breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to seal the deal with a 6-4, 6-2 victory.
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