Vera Zvonareva defeats Timea Bacsinszky in second round of BNP Paribas Open 2011
World number three Vera Zvonareva of Russia started off her BNP Paribas Open 2011 campaign by defeating Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland in the second round at Indian Wells, California on Friday.
Zvonareva made a direct appearance in the second round through a bye and won the contest in straight sets 6-3, 7-6, taking 1 hour and 50 minutes.
The contest remained one-sided in the opening set but the third seed had to recover from a slump in the second set before claiming victory. Although Zvonareva won the contest, yet the serve quality in the match remained a concern.
The Russian served merely with 54 per cent accuracy in the contest, spilling out nine double faults, something not expected from a world number three player. However, she compensated for it by collecting 35 of 43 first serve points and belting six thudding
aces.
The two players appeared quite ordinary in terms of serving in the opening set. Bacsinszky had 49 per cent accuracy and four double faults, while her Russian opponent had the same number of double faults with 45 per cent first serve ratio. Despite a bleak
serve, the 21-year-old Swiss had a solid defensive strategy to save four break points in the first set.
Zvonareva bagged 85 per cent first serve points in the set while her opponent followed with 75 per cent. The Russian broke early in the game to pressurise Bacsinszky and lead the opener by 4-2. The Swiss replied with a serve break, only to be broken again,
leaving Zvonareva serving for the set which she won 6-3.
After Zvonareva dominated the opening set, the second proved to be a nail biter. Zvonareva lifted her first serve accuracy to 60 per cent but was let down by five costly double faults in the set. She belted four thudding aces as well but gave away seven
break chances to the opponent, who converted merely two of them.
The Swiss played good aggressive tennis to cut down the flow of the world number three and gave her a tough time in the second set. Both contestants exchanged two serve breaks to keep the score levelled at 6-6, enforcing a tiebreaker.
Zvonareva proved her mental strength once more in the tiebreaker and shifted the pressure back onto her opponent. Bacsinszky crumbled under the pressure and lost the set at 7-6, giving an entry pass to the Russian for the third round of the tournament.
Zvonareva will be booking a date with 25th seed Slovak, Dominika Cibulkova in the next round of the competition who earlier defeated Indian wildcard entrant Sania Mirza.
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