Vera Zvonareva crushes Varatchaya Wongteanchai in the opening round – PTT Pattaya Open 2012
Former world number two, Vera Zvonareva of Russia, cruised through the opening round of the PTT Pattaya Open after defeating the local qualifier, Varatchaya Wongteanchai, on Tuesday afternoon. She required one hour and 35 minutes
wrapping up victory in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5, marching into the round of 16 at the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International Tour-level event.
Being played on the outdoor hard courts of Dusit Thani Hotel in Pattaya City, Thailand, the contest witnessed another amazing show of brilliance from the reigning world number eight, Zvonareva. The top seed Russian face no serious
challenges in the match and comprehensively disposed of Wongteanchai in their first singles encounter. The 22-year-old Thai qualifier proved easy bait for the Russian veteran, who bettered her in every segment of the game to come out as the winner.
27-year-old Zvonareva banged 74 per cent of her serve on target and clinched 31 out of 48 first serve points en route to victory. She nailed six out of 10 break points in the match, whilst Wongteanchai followed her with three out
of eight conversions to finish the match on the losing side in the end.
Wongteanchai seemed to get some impetus at various moments in the contest but couldn’t sustain it for long on each occurrence. Zvonareva held her nerves throughout the matchup and kept playing positive tennis to get under the skin
of her Thai opponent. The top seed struck early in the opening set, breaking her opponent’s serve in the second game to lead 2-0. Wongteanchai came up with a timely reply in the very next game to bring her opponent back on even terms but the mighty Russian
stung two more break points to seal the first set in an assertive fashion at 6-2.
Four successive serve breaks were witnessed in the opening games of the next set, with the scores crawling to 2-2. A regular game was followed to take the set to 6-5, with Wongteanchai serving to stay in the match. It was anticipated
that the Thai qualifier would hold her serve to extend the match into a tie-breaker round but Zvonareva came up with a decisive break of serve in the 12th game and confirmed victory at 7-5.
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