Vera Zvonareva labours against Voskoboeva to move into the quarters at Open de Bruxelles
Second seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva bounced back from a set down to win against Kazakh qualifier, Galina Voskoboeva by a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 nail biter match on Wednesday. The 26-year-old advanced into the quarter-finals of the inaugural
$618,000 Brussels Ladies Open, a final clay- court French Open tune-up.
Ranked 3rd in the Sony Ericsson WTA Premier rankings, Zvonareva downed the Kazakh, ranked 288 places below her, in troublesome three sets at Royal Primerose Tennis Club. She easily triumphed over Voskoboeva on her previous
meeting three years ago at Indian Wells.
However, she made an epic comeback to overpower her in two hours and twelve minutes in this second round match.
The qualifier thundered into the opening set and unleashed her flurry of ground strokes to reel off first three games in a row. She then held her remaining serves plausibly and broke the Russian’s serve again in the last game to
clinch the opener with a 6-2 win. Voskoboeva saved both breakpoints faced and converted two out of three breakpoint opportunities to her advantage.
Zvonareva got on track in the second set and completely outplayed the Kazakh. She produced a higher first serve share of 71 percent as compared to Voskoboeva’s 41 percent and earned an impressive 80 percent win on it. The Russian
smoothly held her entire serves and converted the only breakpoint opportunity to her advantage in the seventh game to seal the set with a 6-4 score line.
The seeded Russian kept her form in the decider and held her entire serves spectacularly. She found the coveted break in the fifth game and broke again the last game to win the set with a convincing 6-3 victory. Zvonareva saved
all three breakpoints faced and converted two out of eight breakpoint opportunities to her advantage.
"It was my first time playing here and I had to get used to the conditions, new court, new balls, new atmosphere," Zvonareva said after the match. "Not only was I a little bit slow at the start but she was playing well. She qualified
here so she was used to the conditions. But I found my rhythm and got better as the match went on. Now I have another chance for another match here."
The Russian won the title at Doha in February but since then, her form has dipped. She managed to reach the semi-final at Miami but lost in early round in the proceeding tournaments. She carried her winning ways of triumphing in
three sets in this WTA Premier event as well and downed the qualifier after losing the first set.
Up next for the Russian is the seventh seeded Romanian, Alexandra Dulgheru who downed Czech Klara Zakopalova in straight sets.
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