Srebotnik/Zheng down Klepac/Rosolska to enter semis – New Haven Open at Yale 2012
Third seeds, Slovenia’s Katarina Srebotnik and China’s Jie Zheng, took down the Slovenian-Polish tandem, Andreja Klepac and Alicja Rosolska, in straight sets at the New Haven Open at Yale 2012 on Thursday. They penned down a 6-3, 7-5 victory against their
opponents to book a place in the final four at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier event held in Connecticut, United States.
The Slovenian-Chinese junction tumbled Klepac and Rosolska in one hour and 24 minutes. After recording this success, the seeds comfortably advanced into the semi-finals at this outdoor hard court tournament taking place from 17th to 25th
August.
Srebotnik and Zheng assertively entered the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center. They smoothly swiped their entire serves without facing any hindrance. The Slovenian-Chinese pair capitalised on one out of five break chances in the fourth game and subsequently clinched
the opener with a 6-3 success.
The seeds, who are coming off from final showdown at the Western and Southern Open last week, kept momentum running into the proceeding set. They unleashed their true colours and winded up the opening five games to take a 5-0 lead. Regardless of losing their
track and levelling the scores at 5-5, Srebotnik and Zheng cashed in their fourth break opportunity in the 11th game, subsequently bagging the set with a 7-5 win.
Summing up the seeds’ performances, Srebotnik and Zheng sought 14 break chances out of which they converted five to their advantage. They also clobbered a better first serve share of 62 per cent as opposed to their rivals’ 60 per cent and amazingly clinched
25 out of 37 points on it.
Next challenge for the in-form tandem is the top seeded American pair, Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond. The Americans dumped the Taiwanese-Israeli collaboration, Chia-Jung Chuang and Shahar Peer, in straight sets in one hour and 19 minutes.
Joining Srebotnik and Zheng is the unseeded American duo, Lindsay Lee-Waters and Megan Moulton-Levy, who stunned the fourth seeded Spaniards, Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, with a breadstick to progress. They amazingly dusted away
11 out of 12 breakpoints they faced and broke their rivals’ serve three times to formulate a 7-6(6), 6-1 score line.
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