Vera Dushevina outplays Karin Knapp in the qualifiers – Brisbane International 2012
Russian Vera Dushevina stomped over Italian Karin Knapp in straight sets at the Brisbane International 2012, a WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International event taking place on the hard courts in Brisbane, Australia. She earned a 6-3, 6-4 victory over the 24-year-old Italian to secure a final round spot in the qualifiers on Saturday.
World number 86, Dushevina, displayed awe-inspiring skills to dump the Italian, ranked 78 places below her in the WTA Premier Rankings, on their third meeting. She not only avenged her loss at the final eight of the General Ladies Linz in 2007 but also inched closer to the main draw of this Australian Open warm-up tournament.
The 25-year-old Russian dusted away both breakpoints she came across and converted one out of two break chances to her advantage in the fourth game to clinch the set with a 6-3 score. She clinched a total of 34 points and hammered three aces to win comfortably.
Dushevina kept momentum sailing into the final set and drew the first blood in the third game to go 2-1 up. She bagged the remaining serves and broke Knapp’s again in the seventh game to pocket the set with a 6-4 score line. The Russian secured 42 points and hit two aces to earn the glory.
Overall, the higher ranked Russian clobbered a higher first serve share of 68 percent to get the netter of her opponent, who was found struggling with her bleak serve throughout the competition. She brushed off five out of six breakpoints she faced and capitalised on three out of thirteen break chances en route to victory.
Next up for Dushevina is the Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko who overpowered French Kristina Mladenovic in a troublesome three-setter to reach this spot.
The Ukrainian was a set down when he bounced back and conquered Mladenovic with a 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(6) in almost three hours. Her precise serve proved to be the critical success factor in her victory. Tsurenko saved nine out of fifteen breakpoints she encountered and cashed in six out of nineteen break chances to close out victory.
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