Zvonareva Nails Down First Round Victory

Sometimes for a professional tennis player the hardest thing to do on the court is to put a match away.

That was certainly the case for Russia’s Vera Zvonareva, who eliminated 13th seeded Ai Sugiyama, 6-1, 7-5, in a first-round Acura Classic match on Stadium Court.

After easily winning the first set in 26 minutes, Zvonareva built a 5-3 lead in the second set and appeared to be in control of the match.

Sugiyama, who lost in the finals to Mary Pierce in last year’s Acura Classic, held serve as she hit a 98-mph service winner at ad-in to make the score 5-4 in the Russian’s favor.

Serving for the match, Zvonareva fell behind 0-30 and lost her serve as her backhand down the line went long at 30-40.

At 5-5, the veteran Sugiyama, a tennis professional since 1992, opened her service game with a double fault and then committed three straight unforced errors to drop serve at love.

Zvonareva once again served for the match. With the crowd cheering, she served at 6-5 and quickly went up 30-0. Sugiyama tied the game at 30-30 as she hit a forehand volley winner.

On the next point, Sugiyama’s defensive lob landed just past the baseline to give Zvonareva her first match point of the afternoon.

After a brief rally, Zvonareva approached the net for an easy put away volley, but to her dismay, punched her shot long, as the crowd let out a loud groan.
Two points later at the second deuce of the game, Sugiyama hit what appeared to be a volley winner, but Zvonareva tracked it down and returned it for a crosscourt forehand winner to earn her second match point.

This time, Zvonareva was successful as Sugiyama’s crosscourt forehand service return landed wide.

• Zvonareva advances to a second round meeting with Shuai Peng of China.
• Zvonareva is ranked 36 in the world.
• Zvonareva is making her third Acura Classic appearance.
• Zvonareva reached the Acura Classic semifinals in 2004, losing to fellow Russian Anastasia Myskina, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (15).
• Zvonareva reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros in 2003.
• Zvonareva won the Orange Bowl junior tournament in 2000 and 2001.
• Sugiyama is now tied with Zvonareva at 1-1 in career head-to-head meetings.
• Sugiyama is ranked 19 in the world.

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