Saturday, June 26, 2010

Pennetta & Azarenka out of Wimbledon

Klara Zakopalova, a gifted player who has trouble stringing together victories, has strung together two huge ones at Wimbledon this week. In the second round, she upset 18th seed Aravane Rezai, and today, she upset 10th seed Flavia Pennetta. Pennetta, whose weakest surface is grass, was overwhelmed 6-2, 6-3 by her opponent. Zakopalova hit 25 winners to Pennetta's six, and had a noteworthy second serve win percentage of 70. She is currently ranked 66th in the world.

Things didn't go any better for 18th seed Victoria Azarenka, who was defeated 7-5, 6-0 by world number 62 Petra Kvitova. Kvitova is one of the many players on the tour who has hitting talent but who tends to lose control of her aggression. That was not the case today, however, when she won ten straight games to knock Azarenka out of the third round.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova squandered multiple opportunities in her match against 3rd seed Caroline Wozniacki. The 29th seed repeatedly followed brilliant shots with thoughtless errors. This was a typical Wozniacki match in that the 3rd seed hit half as many winners as her opponent, but also made half as many unforced errors. She defeated Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 6-4.

Dominika Cibulkova, like Michelle Larcher De Brito before her, staged a gutsy second set against top seed Serena Williams, who won the first set 6-0. Williams won, however, 6-0, 7-5, hitting 19 aces (Cibulkova hit 13) along the way. Also winning was 16th seed Maria Sharapova, who defeated Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 7-5, 6-3.

Qualifier (and former top 20 player) Kaia Kanepi easily defeated Alexandra Dulgheru, 6-1, 6-2, and 7th and 9th seeds Agnieszka Radwanska and Li Na continued to move quietly through the draw. Radwanska defeated Sara Errani 6-3, 6-1, and Li defeated Anastasia Rodionova 6-1, 6-3.

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