Venus Williams trounces Simona Halep to progress at Internazionali BNL D’Italia: Tennis Special
American wildcard entrant, Venus Williams, stomped over the Romanian number one, Simona Halep, in straight sets at the Internazionali BNL D’Italia 2012 on Tuesday. She joggled up a 6-3, 6-4 victory against the world number 48 to breeze into the second round
at this red clay court tournament taking place from 12th to 20th May in Rome.
In the repeat of last week’s opening round match, the veteran carried her momentum and dragged down Halep in their second outing.
In their last battle, Williams lost the second set but outshined the 20-year-old in the tie-breaker of the decider. However, the American eased past the Romanian at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Five event and bagged the match cashing in
five out of 13 break chances in one hour and 35 minutes.
"It was different than last week - I had to make some adjustments, and I was really happy to finish in two sets," Williams reflected in a courtside interview after the match. "It was windy and there were shadows too, so it was kind of tough to see the ball
sometimes, which was difficult. So I was happy I was able to finish the match well today."
The former world number one, Williams thundered into Foro Italico and drew the first blood in the opening game to take the initial lead. In spite of gifting away her serve in the very next game, the American capitalised on another break opportunity in the
third game and jumped to a 3-1 lead. She then held her composure and not only plucked remaining serves but broke Halep’s serve again in the last game, subsequently sealing the opener with a 6-3 win.
Williams lost her track towards the second set and suffered the first blow in the opening game to trail at 0-2. However, she put her head in the match and recovered in the sixth game. The American got the breakthrough in the last game and clinched the set
with a 6-4 score line.
All in all, the wildcard clobbered a poor first serve share of 41 per cent as compared to the Romanian’s 66 per cent. However, she impressively clicked 27 out of 46 points on it.
Up next for Williams, who is currently standing at number 63 in the WTA rankings, is the Russian rising star, Ekaterina Makarova. The Russian stunned the top local star, Francesca Schiavone, in straight sets to set-up this battle.
Venus sister, Serena Williams also earned the glory later that day. Seeded ninth at this event, Serena stomped over the Kazakhstani contender, Galina Voskoboeva, in straight sets to progress.
Serena conquered Mutua Madrid Open last week after stunning the world number one, Victoria Azarenka in the title-round and Venus reflected about her sister, "Serena played amazing last week - she played great tennis. Everyone else is great too, but she is
just great."
Serena will square-off against Russia’s Nadia Petrova in the round of 32.
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