Valeria Savinykh loses to Eva Birnerova in quarterfinal – Tashkent Open 2011
The two unseeded players to take on the hard courts of the Olympic School Tennis Courts were Czech Eva Birnerova against Russian Valeria Savinykh, during the quarter final match of the Tashkent Open 2011. The Czech won by surviving
a mid match lapse of 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in 2 hours and 21 minutes of thrilling play.
Winning the toss, Birnerova opened serve in the first serve as she comfortably put herself on the scoreboard. Dominating from the very start, Birnerova clinched an early break in the second game before holding her own in the third
to lead the set 3-0. Savinykh had realized a little late in the match that she needed to play as well, and jumped right back into the game. By breaking Birnerova in the fifth game and then holding her own serve in the sixth, she put up a fight. The players
then won on alternate serves for the next four games at which point Birnerova was a break up at 5-4. She was now looking to bag the set, Savinykh came under pressure and double faulted, granting Birnerova her wish.
Opening the second set was again Birnerova, but it turned out to be a bad start for her, as she committed a few errors and gifted away the first break to Savinykh to round off the score at 0-1. Savinykh reeled off a love-service
game quickly and took her lead to 2-0, in the second game. Birnerova was struggling with initial jitters but in the third game jumped back and held her serve for the first time. She then went on to break Savinykh to level the score at 2-2. During the following
three games the players held their own and in the eighth game Birnerova again broke the Russian to take the lead at 5-3. In the ninth game the Russian broke back but was still a break down. Birnerova broke Savinykh for the last time in the tenth game and bagged
the set.
By the end of the second game, the players had bagged a set apiece and both were extremely determined to win the match. Opening the third set was again Birnerova and the two won on their own serves in the following two games. During
the third and fourth game they broke each other back-to-back to round off the score at 2-2. In the following two games they again held their serves and balanced the score at 3-3. During the last three games Birnerova shifted to top gear and the flabbergasted
Savinykh’s bleak defence stood no chance against the Czech’s onslaught. Broken again in the eighth game, Savinykh surrendered the third set and Birnerova sealed her victory.
Although, Savinykh had put up a good fight in the initial two sets, by the third set she was exhausted and just handed the match to her Czech adversary. Birnerova secured a berth in the semi final of the Tashkent Open 2011 where
she will be facing Alla Kudryavtseva.
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