Vera Zvonareva sends Petra Kvitova packing in semi-final – Toray Pan Pacific Open 2011
On Friday the 30th of September, fourth seeded Vera Zvonareva sent packing fifth seeded Petra Kvitova in the semi final of the Toray Pan pacific Open 2011. Battling on outdoor hard courts of Ariake Colosseum, Tokyo, Japan, the Russian seeded fourth needed one hour and thirty minutes to conquer Czech Wimbledon Champion Kvitova in straight sets of 7-6(2), 6-0.
Serving for the opening set was Wimbledon titlist Kvitova, who expertly managed to win on her service game and roll the scoreboard to 1-0. She then moved into a dominating play as she was able to capitalize from an early break against Zvonareva. In addition, she held her serve in the third game and in the fourth again broke Zvonareva to edge away with a lead of 4-0.
On the contrary, the fourth seeded Russian was nowhere near the score board and was two breaks and a game down. However, she made a comeback in the fifth game by breaking Kvitova and the two again broke each other back to back in the following two games. By holding serve in the eighth game, the Russian broke Kvitova in the ninth game and as she again held serve in the tenth, she brought the score on even terms at 5-5.
By the end of the tenth game, Zvonareva had completely nullified the score deficit and had skilfully won four successive games to tie the score at 5-5. During the eleventh game Kvitova managed to handle the pressure and had held her serve. By the end of the twelfth game Zvonareva too had held serve and pushed the opening set into a tiebreaker.
The toe-to-toe run lost steam during the tiebreaker, as Kvitova served for the tiebreaker, Zvonareva broke her and by holding her own took a lead of 2-0. The players then matched a blow for a blow with a series of breaks and holds. By benefiting from four breaks points Zvonareva was able to take the lead and rushed past the Czech clinching 7-2 in the tiebreaker.
Although Zvonareva had committed seven double faults, she still managed to ease away with the opening set.
Serving for the second set was Zvonareva, who was finally able to set her rhythm in the match and switched on an assertive style of play to dominate the second set from the very start. As the Russian capitalized on an early break, she was in no mood of a goose chase and cut Kvitova short. Zvonareva was able to bag a bagel set victory by not just winning on her own serves but also on Czech Kvitova’s.
Zvonareva expertly handled the pressure and made a huge comeback in the opening set winning four games in a row. Next up for Zvonareva is either Victoria Azarenka or Agnieszka Radwanska in the final clash.
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