Vania King halts Sara Errani in the opening round – BNP Paribas Open 2012
Local star, Vania King, upset the high flying Sara Errani from Italy in straight sets at the BNP Paribas Open 2012 on Wednesday. She manipulated a 7-6(3), 6-4 score line against the world number 31 to secure a place in the second round at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) event taking place on the hard courts in Indian Wells, United States.
With the crowd's support, King showed awe-inspiring skills to stun the ultra-fit Italian in their second meeting. The American not only avenged her loss at the Carlsbad WTA event last year but also squared the head-to-head series by 1-1 against Errani.
The 24-year-old is enjoying an exceptional season as she cruised to quarters at the Australian Open in January and reached semi-finals at Monterrey before lifting her third WTA title in Acapulco. She carried her momentum in this match and cashed in all three break chances. However, the Italian saved only two out of five breakpoints she faced and enforced a tie-breaker.
King on the other end raised the bar of her game in the tie-breaker and eventually outclassed her rival with a 7-6(3) success.
The crowd favourite, King, kept momentum sailing into the following set and held her opening serve with poise. She lost her serve once but broke the Italian’s serve twice to bag the set with a 6-4 victory. The American produced a better first serve share of 63 per cent as opposed to Errani’s 59 percent and acceptably marked 15 out of 22 points on it.
The delighted American will next face the 13th seed, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who received bye from the opening round after being a top 32 player of the tournament.
Elena Vesnina of Russia earned the limelight later that day. She eased past the Australian contender, Casey Dellacqua, in straight sets in their first encounter. The Russian saved only three out of eight breakpoints she came across but covered it up by breaking Dellacqua’s serve seven times, ultimately sealing the match with a 6-4, 7-5 success. She also committed more double faults but capped the match by clinching 72 points.
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