Whoever thought that would be news?
It is, though, because the former world number 1 has had such a hard time of it since returning (twice) from a serious back injury. But last last night, she defeated Alona Bondarenko 6-1, 7-6 in the first round of the Mercury Insurance Open.
Also advancing was Alisa Kleybanova, who defeated Aravane Rezai 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.
The battle of the day, however, was fought between Olga Govortsova and Sara Errani. The played for two hours and 45 mintues, broke each other twelve times, and wound up winning the same number of games in a down-to-the-wire determination of the winner. Errani defeated Govortsova 6-3, 1-6, 7-5.
Jamie Hampton lost her final qualifying round to Chanelle Scheepers, but became the lucky loser because of Victoria Azarenka's withdrawal. That means she will play Melanie Oudin tonight in the first round.
That was great for Safina! Especially when she won in 2 sets. I hope as time goes on the pain will not reappear. Dinara is trying to be positive.
ReplyDeleteA lot of things have been going on here so I may not be knowledgeable about this-Has Rezai kind of backed off after all the buzz around her win in Madrid?
Rezai is an inconsistent, wild hitter. So is Kleybanova, so that must have been some match. Rezai's "new" (it's been a while now) coach brought her to a really good place, helping her take advantage of her skills. I've been impressed by her for a long time. But now she needs to learn some control, and to improve her serve. Until she can take control of matches on a consistent basis, she'll win a tournament here and there, but won't advance to the next place.
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