Svetlana Kuznetsova holds Yung-Jan Chan in round three – French Open 2012
Russian superstar, Svetlana Kuznetsova, ended the dream run of the Taiwanese qualifier, Yung-Jan Chan, in the second round of the French Open. However, it was not an easy task at all and the 26-year-old Russian was stretched to
her limits before she picked up a tight straight sets 6-4, 7-6(4) victory.
Both of them were spotted in action against one another in the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, four years ago. At that time, the 22-year-old Taiwanese was able to win a set before falling apart in the final set
battle. So, the stakes were high; revenge was on the cards but Kuznetsova was a bit too strong for the likes of the 151st ranked Taiwanese.
The match witnessed a tipsy turvy start as both players started off with serve holds and swapped breakpoints to keep the scores level at 2-2. However, the Russian star’s guile earned her another breakpoint in the following game
and soon the lead was extended to 4-2 courtesy a very tight serve hold.
Their rankings might portray a lot of difference in their talent but the contest between them on Wednesday was one of the best of the day. Chan tried hard to win the break back and pushed her opponent on the back foot as well on
different occurrences but couldn’t force the Russian to bow down and squander the lead. Final two games were held to love and that gave a set lead to the 28th ranked Russian.
Cautious beginning to the second set featured serve holds at the start; five of them before the series of breakthroughs were witnessed. Both players swapped breakpoints twice on the trot that kept the scores together at 5-5. Another
swap of breakthroughs kept the set alive for the Taiwanese player and enforced a tie-breaker round into play.
Kuznetsova’s experience played its part and she bagged a mini-break towards the ending stages of the tie-breaker to round off the second set as well as book a spot in the third round. She locks horns with the third seed Pole, Agnieszka
Radwanska, for the place in the last 16.
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