Vera Zvonareva bounces against Sabine Lisicki to advance into the third round – French Open 2011
Third seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva made an epic comeback from a set down to win against the German qualifier, Sabine Lisicki by 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 victory on Wednesday. The seeded Russian advanced into the third round of the 2011 Roland Garros while the 21-year-old qualifier exited the event due to an injury.
World number three, Zvonareva made a semi-final berth at Australian Open this year and reached the final at both Wimbledon and US Open last year but her current form is a bit patchy since she barely survived the opening set against Lisicki, ranked 118 spots below her.
Not only this, the Russian was trailing 2-5 in the final set but she took full advantage of the injured Lisicki to advance in this second Grand Slam of the season, at Stade Roland Garros.
Lisicki, who made this spot after triumphing over four veteran players without losing a set, entered Court One confidently. She exchanged an early break and clobbered a higher first serve share of 57 percent as compared to Russian’s 49 percent. Despite committing fifteen unforced errors to Zvonareva’s ten, she converted two out of five breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to clinch the opener with a 6-4 win.
26-year-old Russian got on track in the second set and held her opening serve plausibly. Zvonareva lost her serves twice and was trailing when she roared back by converting three out of four breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to seal the set with a 7-5 score line in forty-seven minutes. She produced an acceptable first serve share and earned a spectacular 75 percent win on it.
A former world number 22, German took a 5-2 lead and was on a verge of a match point when she called for a medical time out. Later she carried on the game but couldn’t keep her momentum to lose the decider 5-7. Adding further misery, she could barely move towards the net and burst with tears. The poor German was then taken away on a stretcher.
The Russian is in great shape this season so far and won a title at Doha after upsetting top seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki. She made semi-final berths at Australian Open, Pattaya City, Miami and Brussels before entering this major clay court event.
Up next for Zvonareva is the Australian Anastasia Rodionova who stunned twenty-sixth seeded Russian Nadia Petrova in the opening round. It would be tough duel and Zvonareva needs to improve her form and save all breakpoints she faces.
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