Svetlana Kuznetsova moves into second round as
Alexandra Dulgheru retires – China Open 2011
Sixteenth seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova got the better off Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru in the opening round of the China Open 2011. The two players battled it out on the outdoor hard courts of the National Tennis Center, Beijing,
China. After one hour and sixteen minutes the sixteenth seeded Russian won the match with 6-2, 4-1 against the world number fifty nine, Dulgheru retired from the match mentioning a bilateral knee injury on Saturday, 1st of October.
Kicking off on outdoor hard court, the Russian nullified every chance for the Romanian to get into the second round. Dulgheru served first but was unable to hold on to her serve and double faulted during the second serve. However,
the Russian was quick to capitalize on the early break and as she held serve in the second, she was leading with a mini lead of 2-0.
In the following game Dulgheru made a comeback by winning her second service game and was able to reduce the deficit to 1-2 but in the very next game Kuznetsova too scored a game and the score again saw a difference of a break
and game.
By the end of the fourth game the scoreboard was standing at 3-1 with Kuznetsova leading. In the fifth and the sixth game the players broke each other back to back, each winning a game the score board read as 4-2. However, Kuznetsova
wanted to further increase the gap and again broke her opponent to secure her lead of 5-2.
Unfortunately for Dulgheru as she was hitting a back hand shot it netted during the second serve and she lost a game. With 5-2, Kuznetsova was now looking to serve for the opening set and as she smashed a couple of fore hand shots
down the line to secure a 6-2 victory of the opening set.
Opening the second set of the match was again Dulgheru and this time she was able to hold her serve of the first game and trailing right behind was Kuznetsova. The two players were easily able to land themselves on the score board
at 1-1. However, higher ranked Kuznetsova was quick to pounce at the first opportunity to break her adversary.
As Dulgheru double faulted on her serve, she endorsed a game to Kuznetsova, who was now first to lead in the match with a 2-1. Kuznetsova was able to capitalize on this lead as she expertly managed to win on her serve in the next
game and further increased the gap to 3-1.
By the end of the fifth game the, Kuznetsova had again benefited from a break point. After a long rally between the two, Dulgheru pushed a backhand over the line and the serve was switched to Kuznetsova, as she thumped a backhand
down the line, she won another game from Dulgheru.
However, while the players were at each other in the fifth game, Dulgheru had felt a sharp pain and after a short examination decided not to play any further, while handing the match over to Kuznetsova, who was already winning.
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