Vania King stuns Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round – BNP Paribas Open 2012
Local star, Vania King, pleased the crowd after upsetting the 13th seed, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, in straight sets at the BNP Paribas Open 2012 on Friday. She nudged up a 6-4, 6-4 victory over the 20-year-old to breeze into the third round at this joint WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) event taking place on the hard courts in California, United States.
Battling each other for the fourth time, the unseeded American unveiled her true colours at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. She lost her serve four times but broke Pavlyuchenkova’s serve six times to steal the show.
“Great atmosphere today at BNP PARIBAS OPEN thanks everyone for the support! Day off tomorrow. Just stuffed myself with sushi,” the blooming American commented at a social networking site after the match.
The stars previously met each other at the Australian Open 2012 where King rallied past the Samara native and after earning this success, King extended her lead in their head-to-head series by 3-1.
King high-spiritedly entered the opening set and after capitalising on three out of five break chances, she sealed the opener with a 6-4 win. The American also fended off half of the four breakpoints she encountered and capitalised on the four double faults the Russian spilled.
The 23-year-old carried her winning ways in the following set and after breaking her rival’s serve three times again, she clinched the set with a 6-4 score line again. She again gifted away her serve twice but covered it up by marking 14 out of 23 points on her higher first serve share.
Overall, the world number 20 showed sloppy performance throughout her opening round match. She clobbered a poor first serve share of 55 per cent as compared to King’s 60 per cent and coughed six double faults. Pavlyuchenkova also saved only three out of nine breakpoints she encountered and subsequently exited from the event with disappointment.
King, ranked 58th in the WTA Premier Rankings, will next tackle the 18th seed, Angelique Kerber, who bounced over the local wild card entrant, Sloane Stephens, in three sets to set-up this battle. The German took almost two hours to overpower her rival with a 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 score line.
Tags: