Tsvetana Pironkova sends Anna Tatishvili packing in straight sets – XXIV SNAI Open
Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria has reached the second round of the XXIV SNAI Open as she ousted the world number 83, Anna Tatishvili 6-2, 7-5, taking a little over one hour and thirty minutes of play.
It was a miserable day for the Tatishvili family on Day 1, as Anna succumbed to the hard-hitting and hyperactive Pironkova, who continued to hold her nerve in a tight second set to register an emphatic win.
In an acrobatic first round, both women moved around with greater speed, going all out for the penetrating shots, but the woman from Boca Raton burst out of the blocks, breaking to open the match and converting 100 percent break points for a 2-0 lead, but the aggression got the best of the Georgian as she sailed a forehand long.
Playing closer to the lines, Pironkova spun a forehand winner down the line for a 4-2 lead, and sealed the set soon after.
As a matter of fact, the Georgian woman’s flat shots missed their marks in the opening set, and she was broken all the four times she served.
But during all this, everything seemed to turn in Tatishvili’s favour. Once the second set started, her flat shots found their targets and she moved Pironkova around the court, as if doing side-to-side sprints.
Although the pendulum swung against the Bulgarian, she was still way too consistent and her shots seemed to have more pace than the Georgian, possibly to keep up with Tatishvili’s groundstrokes, possibly because of Tatishvili’s own pace.
With Tatishvili started to serve poorly, it did not take much for Pironkova to take total command of the second set. Although Tatishvili made a decent effort to take the score at 5-all, she remained unable to repeat the feat in the next two games as Pironkova was hitting the shots with way more versatility and comfort.
And as the match hurtled towards its business end, it was Pironkova who was ultimately superior. And in front of packed crowd at Palermo, against a player she never experienced before, it was the kind of performance she needed to make. After a so-so start to 2011, this win should be a big boost of confidence to the World number 49 when she takes on against either Sorana Cirstea of Romania or Andrea Hlavackova of Czech Republic.
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