Vera Dushevina rallies past Sloane Stephens into main draw – New Haven Open 2011
Seeded at number five in the qualifying draws, Vera Dushevina of Russia, defeated Sloane Stephane from the United States, in the final round qualifiers of New Haven open at Yale, on Sunday afternoon.
The contest was staged on the hard courts of the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center in New Haven, Connecticut, United States, with 72nd ranked Russian winning the three-setter to make it to the main draws of the WTA (Women’s
Tennis Association) Premier Series tournament. She settled the final scores at 4-6, 6-2, 6-0, to make a berth in the main rounds of the New Heaven Open.
The American contestant took hold of the opening set to get the upper hand in the game but failed to sustain her momentum in the later parts of the game. Dushevina was off to a sloppy start in the opener but gathered up her pace
in the following sets to completely blow away Stephens from the competition. The Russian dropped just two games in the last two sets of the matchup to come out as the winner in the end.
The Russian delivered 58 per cent of her serve on target and coughed six doubles faults in the matchup but compensated very well by bagging 37 out of 54 first serve points en route to victory. Stephens failed to pocket sufficient
points to take down her opponent, winning just 19 out of her 47 first serve points in the game.
The American had a total of 10 break opportunities in the opening set and converted two of them to get the early advantage over Dushevina. The Russian replied with a break point conversion later but couldn’t avoid losing the first
set at 4-6.
Dushevina turned the tide in the second set, launching a series of forays upon the American opponent and nailed a total of four serve breaks in the set. The Russian secured 10 out of 15 first serve points in the set, while Stephens
lagged far behind with merely 2 points to remain on the back foot. Dushevina dropped two games in the second set before closing it out at 6-2 to level the matchup at 1-1.
The Russian turned absolutely ballistic in the final set and broke her opponent in her every single serve game to drive her out of the competition. Dushevina stung three consecutive break points to finish off the third set at 6-0,
getting a pass to the main draws of the Premier Series tournament. She will play her opening round match against her fellow compatriot, the eighth seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
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