Vera Zvonareva vs Daniela Hantuchova – Quarterfinal Preview: Western & Southern Open 2011
On Friday the 9th of August, 2011, at the Western and Southern Open 2011, world number two Vera Zvonareva and world number 23 Daniela Hantuchova will contest against each other on the hard courts of Lindner Family Tennis
Center in Mason, Ohio.
Both the players have experienced each other’s style and technique and will be meeting for the eighth time today, many tennis critics are of the view that the Russian (Zvonareva) will easily surpass the Slovak (Hantuchova) as both
have only contested on hard surfaces only, out of which Zvonareva has won five times and thus, leads in their head-to-head. However, most tennis analysts and specialists are of the opinion that the 28 year-old might repeat history, when in 2009; she defeated
Zvonareva in the first round of the Western and Southern Open.
The last time the two met was earlier in the year at the Qatar Ladies Open held in Doha where Zvonareva thrashed Hantuchova in three sets during the quarterfinal. She eventually won the title by defeating Caroline Wozniacki.
The 28-year-old (Hantuchova) had turned to professional tennis in May 1999 and since then has played 733 matches out of which she has won a walloping 449 and lost only 284. She reached her singles career high ranking on the 27th
of January, 2003, which was world number 5. Hantuchova is not only a world class player in singles but also in doubles.
This year she played 55 matches out of which she had clogged 33 and lost only 22. The Higher Power had been very gracious by granting her the fourth WTA title at the Pattaya Open, her first title since 2007, where she conquered
Zvonareva in the semi final to defeat Sara Errani in straight sets during the final.
Although, she didn’t win any, she contested for all the three Grand Slam events of the year, starting off with the Australian Open, where she was not able to shine and lost in the first round. At the French Open, which was also
her most notable performance, in the third round she was able to outplay the world number one Caroline Wozniacki but lost in the fourth to Sabine Lisicki. Moving on to Wimbledon, she lost in the third round to Victoria Azarenka.
Born on the 7th of September, 1984, the 26-year old, Vera Zvonareva has a good defensive and offensive strategy, which is mostly inclusive of a baseline play but she is also a confident player at the net. Known for her
agility, speed and instinct, Zvonareva has an excellent lateral movement which can outrun many stronger opponents. Her ground strokes are powerful with minimum topspin and hits very flat. Her method of play is such that she can adapt to the changing conditions
of the court and weather, during the Indian Wells 2009 tournament, she contested against Ana Ivanovic under extremely windy conditions but still came out triumphing the set.
The Russian has won twelve WTA singles tournaments, the 12th being the Baku Cup 2011, where she routed Ksenia Pervak in straight sets. She also achieved her 11th WTA title this year at the Qatar Ladies Open,
Doha. Zvonareva accomplished her highest ranking of world number 2 on the 25th of October 2010 but then later dropped but eventually came back to take that position. After playing 56 matches, her year to date win-loss record is 42-14, thus, 2011,
has been a great year for Zvonareva.
Vera Zvonareva is the one, whom the money should be put on, but what fate has in store for her, no one really knows but is a likely winner out of the two.
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