Vera Zvonareva outplays Mona Barthel to start her Grand Slam campaign – Wimbledon Championships 2012
Former world number three, Vera Zvonareva of Russia, had a successful beginning to her Grand Slam voyage at the All England Club, defeating the German tennis sensation, Mona Barthel, in the opening round of the Wimbledon Championships on Tuesday. The 12th seeded Russian beauty queen had to go through a gruelling three-setter before registering victory at 2-6, 7-6(3), 6-4, to reach the second round of the star-studded event in London, England.
It was an evenly poised contest, with both contenders throwing their best each other to come out as the winner. Barthel had things under her control earlier on but gradually lost her steam in the following sets to let the Russian come back in business. The unseeded German stepped on the grass courts of Wimbledon as an underdog contestant but stunned everyone with some eye-starling tennis in the opening set. However, Zvonareva brought all her experience into play and surpassed the 21-year-old opponent by reeling off the next two sets.
The world number 12, Zvonareva, couldn’t fire any ace on the faster grass courts and coughed five double faults instead. She had a first serve precision of 63 per cent and she secured 39 out of 55 points on it to touch the finishing line. The Russian diva had 10 break opportunities in the contest but could only convert three of them in her favour. However, Barthel was far successful in break points conversion, winning all of her four chances, yet finishing on the losing side in the end.
Dropping the opening set at 2-6, Zvonareva regrouped in the following set and steadily built up pace to move neck-to-neck with the German rival. She dragged the second set into a tie-breaker round and forced Barthel to surrender at 6-7(3). The 12th seeded Russian kept her winning impetus in the decisive set and held her opening three serves before breaking her opponent in the seventh one. Barthel retaliated immediately with a break point in the very next game but another blow in ninth game made the Russian’s seal victory at 6-4.
The key to success for Zvonareva was her attacking game play. She launched regular forays to the net, winning 24 out of 35 points and building up pressure upon her opponent, who barely clinched 12 out of 16 net points in the entire matchup. Barthel struck 37 winners in reply to Zvonareva’s 29 but her 30 unforced errors frittered away her advantage in the contest.
Zvonareva will face Silvia Soler Espinosa of Spain in the second round of the tournament.
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