Vera Zvonareva survives second-round test
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
No. 2 seed Vera Zvonareva was tested in her second-round match Wednesday at the US Open, before prevailing 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 against Kateryna Bondarenko.
With Bondarenko serving at 5-5, 15-30, the Zvonareva set up two break points with a backhand-swinging volley winner. After missing the first opportunity, Zvonareva earned her second break with a punishing forehand down the line and closed out the set with a routine service game.
Leading 3-1 in the second set, the Russian’s level of play took a downward turn. Though proficient coming forward in the first set, winning all 14 points at net, Zvonareva won just 4 of her 10 net approaches in the second set, and committed 11 unforced errors to just four winners en route to losing five straight games.
She regrouped to start the third set, breaking Bondarenko in the second game. Though Zvonareva dropped serve leading 4-2, she broke Bondarenko again to move ahead 5-3. Bondarenko made Zvonareva work for the victory, holding break point in an intense final game before the Russian sealed the win on her third match point.
Zvonareva improved to 2-0 against Bondarenko and advances to play No. 30 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues, who eliminated British teenage qualifier Laura Robson 6-2, 6-3.
Match Facts
- Zvonareva commited 46 unforced errors, to Bondarenko's 42
- The two combined for 11 breaks of serve in 13 break point opportunities
- Zvonareva won 22 of her 28 net approaches
- Zvonareva won their previous meeting in the 2005 Memphis quarterfinals
Arthur Ashe Stadium - Women's Singles - 2nd Round
Kateryna Bondarenko UKR 5 6 3
Vera Zvonareva RUS (2) 7 3 6
An Interview With: Vera Zvonareva
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Q. The first one might have been a bit easy, but this one was a little testier out there today. Talk about that.
VERA ZVONAREVA: Definitely. It was a good test for me. You know, I know Kateryna for a long time and I knew she was a dangerous player, so I expected a very tough match. And it was.I think I didn't play my best tennis, but I managed to go, to get through this one. I gave myself another chance to go out there and next time and try to do a little bit better.
Q. Are you pleased with the way you played today?
VERA ZVONAREVA: I wouldn't say I'm pleased with the quality of tennis I showed, but I'm pleased the way I handled the match. It wasn't easy for me out there and she's a tricky player. I was trying to find my ways. You know, I had the lead in the second set and she was able to turn it around. I think she just went for her shots.You know, it was difficult for me in the second set, but I started well the third set and then I was able to, you know, to play some good rallies when I needed it in the tight moments. Still, I'm not happy about that I gave her chances in the second set, that I gave her chances to get back into the match. You know, still I was leading in the third set, and again I gave her chances a little bit. But overall, I'm happy. You know, I was trying to get adjusted to the conditions and the court. You know, on one side you play against the wind; on the other side you play with the wind. The center court is definitely different from the courts that we practice on. So overall, I think it was good for me to be out there today and to get through this match.
Q. Can you talk about the challenges of the next match coming up? Medina Garrigues is you're going to be playing.
VERA ZVONAREVA: Yeah, I think she won already today. She's very dangerous player, you know, tough opponent. I haven't give given it a thought yet, but definitely going to be a tough one. I don't recall playing her in a long time. Last time we played I think it was maybe four years ago, and I think it was red clay. So it's going to be a new day. I will think about it, but definitely it's going to be a tough one.
Q. First set you won all 14 points at the net, but you seemed to like abandon that strategy. You run out of gas?
VERA ZVONAREVA: No, I think, yeah, I should have taken more risk in second and third set, but I felt like I was a little bit off my rhythm. You know, with the wind I could have gone to net a bit more, and against the wind maybe I, you know, should have tried. Sometimes I felt like I was trying at the wrong times. She would give me deep ball, and I tried to attack it, come into the net, and she would hit a good passing shot. And the next time I have a shorter ball and I don't use that opportunity. I just felt like, you know, was a bit wrong timing. So I was going to the net but at the wrong times. Then when I needed to go to the net I wasn't using it. So it was just, yeah, mistiming. That's something that I need to work on a little bit more.
Q. When you have a match like this where you don't play your best, do you just look at it and say, Well, I advanced to the next round; I'll worry about it later? Does it kind of bother you that here's a Grand Slam, you made the finals a year ago, and you didn't play very well today?
VERA ZVONAREVA: Well, if I look back, you know, I always don't play my best tennis in the first or second round. Never happened. And the same was last year. I'm not worried about it. Most important is to get through those matches. These kind of matches, they give you confidence that you advance, so now you have another chance. You know, I try to handle the situation the way it is on the court, and I don't play my best tennis every week. It's not like this. But still, I managed, you know, to win couple of tournaments this year without playing my best tennis. You know, you have to handle the situation. You're in this moment. That's what it is. You are facing those challenges and I'm just dealing with them. I don't care about the rest, you know. And once I walk off the court and I start thinking afterwards, later, tomorrow about my next match, I will think about it, but at those moments if I give myself space to think about overall game, well, I will not win that match.
Q. You said on Monday that, you know, the first round match is always a period of adjustment, getting a feeling for the court and the atmosphere and the tournament itself. Where in a Grand Slam fortnight do you generally find that you really hit your stride?
VERA ZVONAREVA: Hard to say, but usually I'm there by the fourth round. That's where I really pick it up. In any tournament, like starting the quarterfinals, that's where I feel like I'm really picking up the level of my game.
Q. Is there a difference for you between matches in the morning and the evening, maybe with the crowd or something like that?
VERA ZVONAREVA: Not really. You know, I think I'm quite experienced and quite mature already. I played a lot of morning, a lot of night session matches, so it doesn't really matter to me at the moment. The most important is to try to stay focused on that match, and that's it.
Q. Why do you think you get off to these slow starts in the Grand Slams, first couple rounds?
VERA ZVONAREVA: I think, you know, I'm all around the court player and I can do a lot of things, but it takes time for me to get adjusted to new surface, new conditions. It's always been like this. I can play very well on any surface, but I just need some time. And I think that's why also, you know, it takes for me couple of two, three matches to really get to that level where I want to be.
Four former champs highlight Day 3 play
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Round one concludes and round two commences Wednesday on Day 3 of the 2011 US Open, as a stellar cast of tennis’ top talents take to the courts of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Former US Open champs Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, Andy Roddick and Juan Martin Del Potro headline the day’s play, which also features Andy Murray, Vera Zvonareva, John Isner and Christina McHale in starring roles.
Williams, unseeded here for the first time since her US Open debut in 1997, was efficient, if not electrifying, in her first-round win over Russia’s Vesna Dolonts. That’s hardly surprising, considering this is only her fourth tournament of the year, and that the 31-year-old missed the entire summer hard-court season. But in winning her 60th career US Open match, Williams showed she still can dig deep when need be, converting on three of five break opportunities to pull out the win. Even without a number next to her name, no opponent is anxious to see the two-time US Open champ on the other side of the net. Today, that view belongs to No. 22 seed Sabine Lisicki, who has won two titles this year and reached the semis of Wimbledon—her best-ever Grand Slam showing. This should be a good test for Williams, as the two women have split a pair of career meetings. This goes three; Williams goes on.
Sharapova, champion here in 2006, was less-than-spectacular in her first-round match, dropping the first set to Heather Watson before rallying for a three-set win. The No. 3 seed made 58 unforced errors and was broken five times in that match, so she’s going to have to sharpen up considerably if she’s considering slicing deep in this draw. Tonight, she can start honing her edge against 24-year-old Anastasia Yakimova of Belarus, whose appearance here in round two marks her best-ever US Open showing. Yakimova did take a set off Sharapova in their only career meeting—a first-round Sharapova win at the 2009 French Open—but on this surface and in this place, the former champ should be too tough to trump. It’s Sharapova in two.
Playing here this year as the No. 21 seed—his lowest seeding since his first US Open appearance in 2000—Roddick, who turned 29 yesterday, has had a decidedly indifferent 2011 campaign. The 2003 US Open champ has won just one title while compiling a 24-11 match record, including a fourth-round finish at the Aussie Open and a third-round loss at Wimbledon. He did, however, reach the semis of last week’s Winston-Salem event, which gave him some much-needed match play entering the Flushing fortnight. Roddick opens up against fellow American Michael Russell, a scrappy veteran who has ranked as high as No. 60 in the world, but who has yet to win a match here in six tries. This ought to be a good opportunity for Roddick to cement his hard-court feet and work his way into a Slam state of mind. Expect the first set to be tight, then expect Roddick to let loose. In three, Roddick advances.
No. 4 seed Murray seems forever on the verge of a major breakthrough, but despite remarkable talent, the 2008 US Open runner-up has remarkably never been able to string seven matches together at a Slam. Murray comes here fresh off a win at the Olympus US Open Series event in Cincinnati, where he beat both Mardy Fish and Novak Djokovic, and he’s absolutely at home on the hard floor of Ashe. But “potential greatness” is one of sport’s most obvious oxymorons, and Murray—one of tennis’ most tenacious competitors—has surely had his fill of runner-up trophies. He’ll get a good early test against India’s No. 1 player, 26-year-old Somdev Devvarman, who won back-to-back NCAA singles titles while at the University of Virginia, beating Isner in the collegiate final in 2007. Devvarman is not in Murray’s class, but he’ll hustle, get a lot of balls back and make the No. 4 seed work hard for points. In an entertaining three, Murray moves on.
The 19-year-old New Jersey native McHale is enjoying a career-high ranking of No. 55 on the heels of a career year in which she’s recorded victories over some of the game’s biggest names, including Daniela Hantuchova, Caroline Wozniacki and former US Open champ Svetlana Kuznetsova (twice). At just 5-foot-5, McHale plays a big game and has an equally large heart, and she’ll need both today against No. 8 seed Marion Bartoli of France. Bartoli, who this year reached the semis at Roland Garros and the quarters at Wimbledon—knocking out Serena Williams en route—is a major talent, but as McHale has shown, you need to bring more than your name when you’re facing her. I like McHale’s grit and I like her game, so I like her chances here. In three, the American plants a seed.
Vera Zvonareva Bio
Venus Williams Bio
Maria Sharapova Bio
Andy Roddick Bio
Andy Murray Bio
Christina McHale Bio
Sabine Lisicki Bio
John Isner Bio
Juan Martin Del Potro Bio
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