Tsvetana Pironkova plonks Lucie Hradecka to book a spot in round two – Swedish Open 2012
World number 62, Tsvetana Pironkova, smartly manoeuvred into the second round of the Sony Ericsson Swedish Open on the eve of Tuesday at the expense of the 65th ranked Czech star, Lucie Hradecka, who is considered one
of the best doubles specialists in the world.
The 24-year-old Bulgarian star bagged the opening set 6-2 and ended the resistance in the second phase of the match with a score line of 7-5. She wasn’t intimated at all by the possible upset news that gathered pace a night before
the encounter took place.
Pironkova played her first match against the Czech in 2005 and won that battle. She doubled her lead in 2009 during the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament at New Haven and now the head-to-head series scores is pushed to 3-0 in her favour.
The opening game of the match witnessed an easy serve hold for the Bulgarian starlet but little was known about the upcoming flurry of breakthroughs that featured five games without a single serve hold.
Both players kept on winning the breakpoints until the scores moved on to 4-2 in the favour of the 24-year-old Bulgarian. Out of nowhere, the 62nd ranked professional bagged another serve game that enhanced the lead
to 5-2.
It was looking pretty ominous for the Czech who failed to register a single serve hold throughout the opening set of the match. Trailing a set down, Hradecka took a deep breath; forgot the first half proceedings and came back as
a better contestant in the second part of the clash.
Pironkova showed some inexperience at the start of the second set and lost an early breakpoint in the first game. She was forced to save a couple of breakpoints in the third game as well. So, it was all Hradecka in the second set.
She kept her lead intact and prepared to serve for the set at the scores of 5-4.
Unfortunately, she slipped on the crucial point in the 10th game and that gifted an opportunity for her rival to break serve. Pironkova made no mistake in bouncing back into the match with the help of a breakthrough.
The Czech starlet looked a bit frustrated on squandering a really good opportunity to level the set scores. With that mindset, she served the 12th game of the match and committed suicidal unforced errors in succession
to handover the win to her competitor.
Pironkova squares off against Lesia Tsurenko in round two.
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