Yaroslava Shvedova surprises Yanina Wickmayer in the second round – Family Circle Cup 2012
A stunning performance from the 24-year-old Kazakh competitor, Yaroslava Shvedova, was witnessed in the second round of the Family Circle Cup, surprising the 12th seed Belgian, Yanina Wickmayer. She outplayed the world
number 30 in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6(2), to march into the third round of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier tournament on Wednesday afternoon.
The contest was played on the outdoor clay courts of Charleston, USA, with the Kazakh qualifier dominating the superior-ranked Wickmayer in a convincing victory. Shvedova took one hour and 39 minutes to improve her year-to-date
record by 18-5 and moving a step closer to the quarter-final draw of the star-studded event.
The 24-year-old was off to a ballistic start in the opening set, completely overpowering Wickmayer in every segment of the game to lead 1-0. The 12th seed Belgian made a fitting reply in the following set and went neck-to-neck
with the belligerent Kazakh. She managed to drag the set into a tie-breaker round but utterly collapsed in the decider to let her opponent to an upset victory.
Shvedova had 72 per cent accuracy with her first serve in the match and clinched 32 out of 54 points on it en route to victory. She nailed four out of six break points, while Wickmayer could barely register two out of seven serve
breaks to finish on the losing side in the end. The Belgian was led down by her error-ridden game play, as she coughed a number of unforced errors to gift easy opportunities to the inferior-ranked opponent.
"In the first set I was more solid than her - I was getting to all the balls and playing sharp, forcing her to miss," Shvedova said. "The second set was a bit harder. I had match point on my serve at 6-5 but she returned very easily
and I was a little surprised, so I missed the next shot. But in the tie-break I played very solid and didn't make mistakes. I was fired up and played aggressively."
Up next for Shvedova is the sixth seed German diva, Sabine Lisicki, who defeated Andrea Hlavackova in the second round to meet the Kazakh.
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