Venus Williams struggles against Kimiko Date-Krumm in second round – Wimbledon Championships 2011
In the first meeting ever, five time champion here, Venus Williams from America bounced back from a set down to do away with Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm in their second round match at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships in
London on Wednesday, 22nd June.
The American took a little almost three hours to secure a 6-7(6), 6-3, 8-6 victory against the 40-year-old Japanese.
Venus won the toss and opened serve in the first serve. However, the experienced Japanese veteran broke the American in the very first game without losing a single point to lead the set 2-0. Another break later in the third game,
Date-Krumm was leading 3-0 hinting at Venus’ complete decimation. Although Venus managed to put herself on the scoreboard in the fourth game, the exchange of breaks put Date-Krumm at a commanding 5-1 lead.
Once again making it to the scoreboard, Venus unleashed her fury in the eighth game as she capitalised on the Japanese’s costly double fault to clinch a lucky break and reduce the game deficit to 3-5. Although a hard fought battle
in the ninth game with long rallies and a set point for Date-Krumm, Venus was able to hold her serve as she hit two successive winners down the line on deuce to lag 4-5 in the set score. A marvellous comeback for the ever-vigilant American! Breaking the Japanese
in the tenth game, Venus levelled the score before holding her serve in the eleventh to lead the set 6-5, for the first time in this match. A successful serve game from Date-Krumm forced the first set into a tiebreaker.
A mini-break on the very first shot put Date-Krumm in a 3-0 lead in the tiebreaker, which she extended to 4-1 moments later. Venus’ errant strokes may very well prove to be her downfall. However, bouncing back, Venus managed to
clinch a few more points as she reduced the deficit to level the score at 6-6. Serving at 6-6, Date-Krumm hit a winner down the line before clinching the tiebreaker 8-6 on Venus’ into-the-net shot.
Taking a little over an hour, both pros hit almost similar first serves with similar point conversion. Although Date-Krumm hit 26 winners to Venus’ 16, she also hit six more unforced errors. She managed to go one up in the set
score with only three points more.
A hard-fought battle in the third game of the second set with several deuces gave Venus the lucky break as she capitalised on Date-Krumm’s errant strokes to lead 2-1, extending it to 3-1 on her own serve in the next game. Continuing
to win on their services, Venus still led the set 5-3. Unleashing her full fury on the Japanese in the ninth game, Venus clinched another break to win the second set 6-3 and level the set score.
With one set each, the match entered the decider. A reformed Venus rushed to an early 2-0 as she broke Date-Krumm in the second game. However, a break later Date-Krumm had managed to level the score at two games each. A successful
hold of their serves pushed the set into a long set. Determined to end the game on her terms, Venus reeled off two straight games as she seasled the final set 8-6.
Venus moves on ahead to play either Spaniard Maria Martinez Sanchez or Romanian Monica Niculescu in the third round.
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