TENIS INFO : WTA Moscow Klara Zakopalova - Ana Ivanović 17.10.2013. 14:30 Ivanovic had her wish come true She wanted to play on Thursday, and Thursday it is. Its because of the Linzs finals on Sunday, and shes defending the semifinals this week. Zakopalova finally won after six defeats, but there are still too many holes in her game Zakopalova finally beat someone, and thats the biggest news from her. Her victim was a young player Kovinic. This was only her second game on a WTA tournament. As Kovinic said herself, clay is her court of choice, and it was questionable how shell manage the indoors conditions. Zakopalova won in two sets, and finally ended the row of six defeats, but the final statistics show it wasnt easy, even if she did win 16 points more than the opponent. She won almost half of her match points with her return, and she can thank Kovinic for that. Kovinic only had 43% of her first service hits, and Zakopalova knew how to use it with her return and punish her errors. However, Zakopalovas numbers from the service arent great either. With seven double errors, 11 allowed break opportunities, and 42% of won points from the second service, thats all you need to know about how well Zakopalova played. Even though the match wasnt broadcasted, Zakopalova must have dominated on the court, using her powerful hits, and that was too much for Kovinic. Some info say Zakopalova made too many errors, and we announced in the preview of the first round that she became the unforced errors machine. So the news is, Zakopalova won, but her game is obviously still in crisis. Ivanovic didnt manage to get her third title in Linz. She didnt despair about it, at least judging by her reactions right after the finals and her statements for the media later on. Kerber had more focus when it came to the important points, and Ivanovic admitted it, but Kerber can definitely thank the Serbian player for the progress in her ranking (shes the 13th player in the world at the moment). - Even though it is disappointing to lose in a final, I had lots of good matches this week and lots of good wins, and overall it was a very positive week - Ivanovic pointed out. She saved three tied match balls in the second set, but then didnt use any of the four set balls. Her next stop is Moscow, and since shes defending the last years semifinals here, theres definitely enough motivation present. She must feel fatigue from her Sunday finals, too. Ivanovic wished to play on Thursday to get an extra day to rest, since she came to Moscow on Monday evening. - I plucked up confidence last week and will try to perform successfully again here in Moscow. I still have the best memories of Moscow, where last year we won the semi-final of the Fed Cup - Ana added. Daniela Hantuchova - Vesna Dolonts 17.10.2013. 14:00 Dolonc: I finally feel at home Although he plays under the Serbian flag, Dolonc is actually Russian player and she is born in Moscow. So, this is actually a home tournament for her. Her good feeling in front of the home audience is one of the reasons she managed to come back in the first round match, but she also had tactically great second and third sets Injuries in tennis can be hidden, that is not a secret. Hantuchova injured her foot in Beijing and last week in Linz she admitted she did not expect a good result. It was questionable how serious that injury is, i.e. whether it was something more to that, because of the reasons we mentioned in the opening sentence. Her foot is fine, she showed that here against Parre and she did not show any other signs of problems while she was on the court. Against healthy Hantuchova her opponent in the first round had no chance. Just to mention, that was only the third indoors match for Parra in her career and it was known she does not play well indoors. The only question was whether Hantuchova is ready, and she was. She played well both on serve and on return and she had much more force in her strokes and she had more time to set her strokes. In such conditions her win was not a surprise, but Parra in not a real measure of her performance. Dolonc reached quarter-finals last year in Moscow after she played qualifications. Although she plays under the Serbian flag, Dolonc is actually Russian player and she is born in Moscow. - I think I play well here because I finally feel at home and I can play relaxed - said Dolonc after a win in the first round. Her relaxation in the second and thirds sets against Cibulkova got her the win. Cibulkova dominated exchanges in the first set, she constantly built points by changing ball direction and Dolonc chased balls until she either ran out of strength or was unable to make the return. But then her coach took over and he talked to her constantly during the last two sets. He asked her to relax and not allow Cibulkova to build her play and to be more aggressive in exchanges. He also made correct suggestions to her what to play next (kudos for that). Dolonc listened, she started venturing deep into the court and she started to openly compete with her opponent. Cibulkova lost her domination (easy return balls) and she started seeing more difficult balls that went into her body or under her feet and she did not have a solution for that. Dolonc started playing with more confidence while Cibulkova started making more mistakes and in the end she had 45 unforced errors. - That was a very important match for me. I had wins against Top 20 players before so I know I can play at that level - said Dolonc. She already played against Hantuchova this year and she lost in two sets (also indoors match). But the day before she suffered an asthma attack and when we combine that with high emotions, it was obvious Dolonc was not ready to play that match. That was a national team match played in Serbia and Dolonc was highly motivated. She is even more motivated here because, as she said herself, Moscow is her real home
Posted on: Thu, 17 Oct 2013 08:52:27 +0000
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