Svetlana Kuznetsova whips Alize Cornet
in first round – Kremlin Cup 2011
Sixth seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova thrashed French qualifier Alize Cornet in the main draw of the Kremlin Cup 2011. The players had taken up the gauntlet on indoor hard courts of the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Russia. After simply
one hour and thirteen minutes the sixth seed Russian got rid of the French qualifier in straight sets of 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday the 18th of October 2011.
Cornet had decided to serve for the opening round of the match and she got off on the wrong foot as she was unable to hold her game. While, Kuznetsova’s performance was boosted by the home crowd and she was able to take a mini
lead of 2-0 on the scoreboard by capitalizing on a break and then holding her serve. In the subsequent two games the players won on a game on respective serves and the scoreboard shifted at 3-1.
During the fifth and the sixth game the rivals broke each other back-to-back and then held serves to bring the scoreboard to a 5-3 score. Kuznetsova was now only a game away from taking the first round and as Cornet double faulted
on her second serve, Kuznetsova bagged the opening set with a 6-3 score in the ninth game.
As the Russian powered through the first set, she set the tone for the second and opening the second round of the match was Kuznetsova but this time she double faulted on her serve and endorsed a game to her adversary. On the other
hand, Cornet was first to take a mini lead of 2-0 on the scoreboard as she had capitalized on an early break and then held serve.
However, Kuznetsova brought the scoreboard to a tie at 2-2 by the end of the fourth game with a hold of serve and then by benefiting from a breakpoint. Kuznetsova repeated the feat by utilizing the serve-break technique and by
the end of the sixth game the score had progressed at 4-2. During the seventh game Kuznetsova duelled a deuce and eventually bagged her service game to rotate the scoreboard to 5-3.
The sixth seeded Russian was now only a game away from her victory, the serve switched and it was Cornet’s turn to serve. As she held her service game, she too bagged a game and the score had moved to 5-4. It was in the tenth game
that Kuznetsova served for the match and as she smashed a forehand crosscourt shot, she sealed her victory of the set and the match.
Sixth seeded Russian was able to reserve a place in the second round of the Kremlin Cup where she will be facing Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova.
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