Yaroslava Shvedova disposes Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino to clear the first round – ASB Classic 2013
Golden set record holder, Yaroslava Shvedova, commenced the new season with a comfortable victory over the 79th ranked Spanish youngster, Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino, at the hard courts of Auckland. On Tuesday, the sixth
seed Kazakh clinched straight sets victory, 6-3, 6-2, over the 20-year-old Spaniard in just 71 minutes.
Vecino showed nerves at the start of the contest that proved to be the major factor in her downfall. She lost the opening serve game after spraying her serves all over the court and was powered down to a trail of 0-2. Shvedova
capitalized on the early lapse of concentration of her rival and continued to test her in the return games whilst keeping a strong command on her serves at the same time.
Finally, the onslaught of Shvedova yielded another break of serve for her in the ninth game that proved to be the final action from the first phase of the match. It was a very convincing start for the 25-year-old Kazakh who is
eager to back-up a breakthrough season with another barrage of startling performances in 2013.
Both players settled into the atmosphere of the event by the start of the second set and capitalized on the serve games. The see-saw battle continued for the first five games with no player able to test their rival in the return
game. However, the deadlock was broken and the 20-year-old Spaniard was thumped on the back foot with a breakthrough to her rival’s name.
It was a disappointing moment for the youngster who had worked so hard to make sure that she didn’t slip easy points to her rival. However, the Kazakh found a gateway to a break serve and converted it in her favour. The pressure
of the trail mounted on the Spaniard and she stumbled apart in the eighth game of the second set to gift her foe a breakpoint that ended the encounter.
The sixth seed Shvedova will be facing the Russian professional Elena Vesnina in the second round of the tournament. It is expected to be a one sided encounter with the Kazakh leading the show from the start. However, the doubles
specialist from Russia can shock the rivals with her agility across the court.
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