Vera Zvonareva sends Heather Watson packing in the first round – AEGON International 2011
The 2011 Doha titlist and world number three, Vera Zvonareva of Russia is through to the second round of the 2011 AEGON International after an entertaining 6-3, 6-3 win over Heather Watson of Great Britain on Tuesday.
Watson, who is only 19-year-old, faced the Russian tennis ace for the first time in her career, and due to her lack of experience in the game of tennis, she faced a humiliating defeat and lost the match in just one hour and nineteen
minutes.
The first set of the match was a tight affair for the world number three, although both were pretty manageable wins for her. The Russian tennis ace continued to display her tremendous tennis skills from the beginning of the first
set, serving well and offering up few unforced errors. Despite this, the Russian tennis ace could not hold on to her serve and allowed her opponent to take the lead 3-2. However, both players continued to trade holds until 5-3, at which point Zvonareva stamped
her supreme authority on the first set and broke Watson’s resistance to take the first set 6-3.
Zvonareva played an awe-inspiring game in the first set, as she wrapped up the first set with two aces and 80 percent of her first serve. Not to mention, the Russian No.1 managed to rack up a whopping 100 percent on her second
serve respectively. The woman from Moscow saved all of the break points she faced.
After losing the first set miserably, it became quite evident that the Brit player desperately wanted to win the first set. The loss of the first set knocked the stuffing out of Heather for a short period as she let Zvonareva rush
to a 2-0 lead. However, the world number 93 reacquired her peace of mind and competed well for the remainder of the set. She bravely responded back to her opponent’s fiery forehands and managed to get on the board with a 3-2 lead. And with the irrefutable
sense of danger in the air, the Russian quickly injected pace into her groundstrokes and followed them up with some of her glamorous forehands. And like a true champion, Zvonareva victoriously managed to crumble the Brit under massive pressure. She took the
second set with the same scores.
Zvonareva wrapped up the match with four double faults and 74 percent of points on her first serve. Furthermore, she clinched 76 percent of points on her service, 43 percent of points on return and a total of 68 of 120 in the process.
With this victory, the world number three will lock horns with former world number one Serena Williams of America in the second round of the tournament. Both women will face each other for the eighth time with Williams leading
the head-to-head 6-1.
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