Svetlana Kuznetsova beats Shuai Zhang; breezes into the second round – Wimbledon Championships 2011
Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia put up a great fight against Shuai Zhang of China to proceed to the second round of Wimbledon championships, after sending Zhang on her way with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 score line.
Kuznetsova tried her best to work Zhang’s forehand from the start while the stubborn Chinese ace from Tianjin played safe with her meaty, unfussy ground strokes. Even when the Russian could not convert her crucial points, she did
not lose her head and continued to stretch Zhang with the variety and strength of her play. However, the Russian world number three could not stand her ground and lost first set 3-6.
In the first set, the 22-year-old Zhang displayed awe-inspiring skills from the start and held her serve to have the upper-hand. After the scores were squared at 3-3, Zhang went on savage mode and reeled off next three games in
a row. Using her angled serves to perfection, Zhang clinched the first set in just 34 minutes.
She slammed eight winners and has a 71 percent first serve share. The Chinese also found three break points on which she converted two to her advantage to win the first set comfortably.
However, great players are always judged on how well they shine in a bad situation and despite losing a first set, Kuznetsova remained on course to beat the Chinese in the last two sets.
After swapping early breaks in the second set both women struggled to hold serve until Kuznetsova capitalized on some sloppy work from the Chinese woman to break for 4-3. The Russian player further strengthened her position and
held set point when the Chinese woman sailed a forehand wide and long, and handed over the second set with a 3-6 score.
The dejected Chinese woman did show some resistance in the decider and somehow managed to convert 100 percent break points, but her movement and service speed was clearly impaired in the next game, when Kuznetsova broke quickly
to get back on serve. As a matter of fact, Zhang’s game was not built on finesse and placement, while Kuznetsova had the ability to finish almost every point with a glamorous swing of her racquet. As Kuznetsova quickened the tempo, Zhang had simply no answer,
losing the match in one hour and 45 minutes.
With this win, Kuznetsova has improved her year-to-date win/loss mark to 24/13 matches and now moves on ahead to face Romania’s Alexandra Dulgheru for the first time in the second round of the tournament.
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