Yaroslava Shvedova blasts past Simona Halep in round one – London Olympics 2012
World number 47, Yaroslava Shvedova, continues to impress the tennis fanatics with a breakthrough season at her hands. She opened up her London Olympics account with straight sets 6-4, 6-2 win over the 50th ranked Romanian,
Simona Halep, on the eve of Sunday.
Both players were squaring off for the first time in their professional careers so it was obvious that there will no mind games or psychological benefits to any contender.
Moreover, the proximity of the rankings made it a much more interesting than anything else with Shvedova being the favourite to win the clash considering her blistering run of form in the recent past.
The 20-year-old Romanian impressed the crowd by breaking her opponent’s serve in the first game of the match. She held her serve to love and mounted a lead of 2-0 upfront. The scores kept ticking over with both players hanging
on to their serves with ease.
However, the sudden outbreak and flurry of breakpoints helped the Kazakh starlet to fight back into the contest; three breakthroughs were contested on the trot and the golden set record holder won two out of them to level the scores
at 4-4.
Out of nowhere, the Kazakh starlet saved two breakpoints in the following game to hold on to her serve and reinstate the lead of 5-4 with her opponent serving to keep the set alive.
Halep wasn’t experienced enough to deceive the 24-year-old Kazakh with her guile in the last game and misplace two successive drop shots to gift away the set to Shvedova.
The second set witnessed something special from the Kazakh. She took a resounding lead of 3-0 courtesy a breakpoint in the second game.
Moreover, the Romanian 20-year-old starlet was restricted immensely by the 47th ranked Kazakh through some fast and accurate returns. Halep was not allowed room to play her shots and she was completely tied down that
witnessed her trailing 1-4 by the end of five games in the second set.
The pressure played its part and finally, the Kazakh hard-hitter won the second breakthrough of the set in the eighth game that proved to be the last action from the grass courts of the All England Lawn Club.
Shvedova will be up against the winner of the match between the 15th seed German, Sabine Lisicki, and the Tunisian teenager, Ons Janeur. Lisicki was trailing 3-4 in the opening set when the rain suspended the play on
Sunday.
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