Varvara Lepchenko dodges Alexandra Panova to reach round two – BNP Paribas Open 2012
World number 82, Varvara Lepchenko, dodged the 84th ranked Russian, Alexandra Panova, to book a spot in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open. The contest lasted for a couple of hours before the Uzbek advanced with
a straight sets 7-6(3), 6-2 triumph.
It was a nail-biting contest in the opening set. Both players fought extremely hard and didn’t allow easy points to their rivals. The contest started with an exchange of breakthroughs at the start as the players settled in and
capitalized in their serves in the following games.
Lepchenko was hungry for more breakpoints and created 10 more opportunities to break serve but her rival stood firm and saved all of them to keep the scores together. The American qualifier was powered down on her serve in the
fifth game but she saved the breakpoint courtesy to a delightful winner down the line.
A tie-breaker round was enforced to decide the set and after a cruel battle in the first four rallies, it was the American starlet who won a mini-break that pulled curtains for the Russian. Local crowd was ecstatic to see their
representative fighting extremely hard and applauded her each successful rally. 57 points were won by the American compared to 51 of her opponent.
The second set started in dismal fashion for the visitor who dropped a couple of serve games at the start. Lepchenko pounded on her opponent and clubbed the opportunity to register a resounding lead of 4-0 at the start.
She was pressurized on a couple of occasions of her serves as well but saved both breakpoints to contain her lead. She spared just a couple of games for her opponent in the following games of the match before bagging the second
set and marching on to the second round of the contest.
The American was able to 92 points in total and smashed three aces in the match. She will take on the French tennis ace, Marion Bartoli, in the next round matchup.
California is hosting one of the biggest tournaments in the world of tennis. It’s a joint event and has a draw of 128 players coming from all parts of the world.
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