Tamira Paszek outdoes Ksenia Pervak to reach the quarterfinals – Wimbledon Championships 2011
Tamira Paszek of Austria found herself in a world of trouble against Ksenia Pervak in the fourth round of Wimbledon Championships 2011, but she battled back and finished the job in three sets.
The Austrian beat Pervak 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 in two hours and eighteen minutes on Monday afternoon, coming back from a second set down to reach the quarterfinals of Wimbledon Championships.
Paszek seemed to be in cruise control right away when she broke for 5-2 advantage in the first set, but she immediately gave it right back in the second set to bring her opponent back on serve.
Pervak suddenly started playing with incredible confidence, running around her backhand to blast forehands at every possible opportunity. The Russian woman played a near-flawless return game at 2-2 to earn a surprising decisive
break as she battled through a tough service game at 5-2 to close out the second set.
The Austrian fought back with purpose to save 100 percent break points, only to sail a weak forehand wide and letting Pervak to dictate the terms equally. The Russian pro finished the second frame of play with two winners, whereas
Paszek struck three.
After the players split sets, the crowd was absolutely ready for an enthralling third one. Despite a startling second set deficit, Paszek promptly restored order to the afternoon. She broke serve in the second game of the third
set and surged to a 3-0 lead. The Austrian player dropped 15 points on her service game during the final set, but she added another break at 5-3 just for good measure. Paszek also turned the tide in terms of dictating rallies; she fired twelve winners while
only ten came off Pervak’s racket.
Paszek finished off the match with three aces, and two double-faults while striking twenty eight winners against 38 unforced errors. By Contrast, Pervak lost the match with a single ace and seven double-faults while hitting fifteen
winners against 32 unforced errors.
With this win, Paszek has improved her year-to-date win/loss mark to 18/10 matches and now marches on into the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon championships where fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus awaits her.
Paszek and Azarenka have met before at the quarterfinals at Montreal, where Azarenka ousted Paszek to lead their head-to-head series to 1-0.
The Austrian, who could not even make it to the first round, losing to Kurumi Nara in second round of qualifier last year, has been a revelation, reaching the quarterfinals for the first time in her career. Playing with her two-handed
backhands, her game adapts gracefully to grass, but being a novice at the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon Championships, the 20-year-old Austrian will need to be at her sharpest against feisty Azarenka today.
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