This season has been a tough one for Schiavone. She hasn’t managed to reach the semi finals in any tournament this season.

Her best performance thus far in the ongoing season was in the tournament in Acapulco where she had reached the final 8. She had been defeated by Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain in the quarter finals there.

She has reached the quarter finals here at Morocco as well and she would want to go all the way this time around.

Schiavone has won her first couple of matches in this tournament quite comfortably. In the first round, she took on Petra Martic of Croatia and defeated her in the straight sets by 7-6, 6-4.

In the second round, Schiavone had another easy win over the Romanian player Simona Halep.

On the other hand, Cornet had a mixed last season, but, in this season, she hasn’t played that badly. She has been consistent and has played well in most of the tournaments.

In this tournament, Cornet started with a dominating victory over the local player Fatima El Allami in the first round. However, in the following round, she was tested a bit by Karin Knapp of Italy. She lost the first set by 1-6 in that match, but, then, came back to win the next two sets.

Schiavone has a dominating record against Cornet. She has played against the Frenchwoman 8 times before and has defeated her 7 times.

However, Cornet’s current world ranking is a bit better than Schiavone. She is at no. 33, while, Schiavone is at no. 48.

So, quite clearly, some of the stats are in Schiavone’s favour, while, the others are in the favour of Cornet. So, it’s hard to tell who will be the favourite in tomorrow’s match. It’s a 50-50 kind of a clash.

Schiavone Online video Rating: / five

Schiavone Video clip Score: / five

Schiavone who is unseeded in this tournament took 109 minutes to get better of her compatriot.

This was the seventh clash between these two players. In the last two matches, Schiavone was beaten by Pennetta in the straight sets, but, in this match, Schiavone didn’t let that happen.

Pennetta served a total of nine double faults in the match. Also, she got 14 break points in the match, but, she managed to capitalize on only three of them.

In the opening set, neither of the two players served that well. In the first 6 games, both of them dropped their serve two times and at the end of the 6^th game, the score was 3-3.

Pennetta got her third breakthrough in the 7^th game and then, enhanced her lead to 5-3 with a serve hold in the 8^th game. She was looking in a great position at that time, but, Schiavone turned the set in her favour with some extraordinary tennis in the next 4 games. With the help of serve breaks in the 10^th and the 12^th game, she grabbed the opening set by 7-5.

That late onslaught in the first set boosted Schiavone’s confidence and she went absolutely berserk in the next set. With breakthroughs in the 2^nd and the 4^th game, she took a lead of 5-0. Pennetta held her serve in the 6^th game, but, that was too little too late. A serve hold by Schiavone in the 7^th game ensured Pennetta’s defeat.

In the post match interview, Schiavone said, “In the first set, there were certainly a lot of mistakes committed by me especially on my serve. But, in the second set, I improved my game and won it comfortably.”

Schiavone Video Rating: four / 5

In the next round, Bartoli will face Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia who made her way into the second round with a win over Bethanie Mattek-Sands of USA.

Bartoli didn’t have a good start in the match against Schiavone. She dropped her serve in the second game of the opening set and got trailed by 0-3. The next five games went with the serve and at the end of the eighth game; Bartoli was trailed by 3-5. The Frenchwoman got a breakthrough in the ninth game and then, she held her serve in the next game to level the scores.

Both the players held their serve in the next couple of games and the scores got tied at 6-6.

In the tie breaker, both the players fought hard for each and every point, but, it was Bartoli who prevailed eventually.

In the second set, Bartoli again had a poor start and she dropped her serve in the very first game. But, she recovered quickly by breaking Schiavone’s serve in the second game. There were no breakthroughs in the next three games and at the end of the fifth game; the score was 3-2 in the favour of Bartoli.

In the sixth game, Bartoli managed to sneak another breakthrough and then, by serving out the next game, she got ahead by 5-2. Schiavone desperately needed breakthroughs to prevent Bartoli from running away with the match, but, she didn’t succeed in that. With a serve hold in the 9^th game, Bartoli won the match and cruised into the next round.

Schiavone Video Rating: 4 / five

Kvitova’s form hadn’t been that good before coming into this tournament. She had been thrashed in the first round of the Apia International Sydney Tennis tournament by Dominika Cibulkova and then, she was knocked out from the second round of the Brisbane International Tennis tournament last week.

Kvitova struggled a bit in this match as well. She made a total of 42 unforced errors and also served 9 double faults. But, despite making quite a few mistakes, Kvitova managed to get better of Schiavone.

Kvitova got a couple of breakthroughs in the first set and won the first set easily by 6-4. But, in the second set, she failed in capitalizing on the chances that she got. She got four breakpoints, but, she couldn’t convert any of them. She paid the price for that and ended up losing the second set by 2-6.

But, in the final set, Kvitova bounced back. She held all her serves and broke Schiavone’s service twice to win the third set and thus, the match.

In the post match interview, Kvitova said, “I could have performed better, but, I am happy with the end result. This year hasn’t been good for me so far. I was knocked out early in the last couple of tournaments. I don’t want the same thing to happen in this tournament as well. I want to go all the way through and win the tournament. That would make up for my failures in the last two events.”

In the second round, Kvitova will take on Laura Robson of Britain.

Schiavone Online video Score: four / five

Schiavone didn’t have a very good 2012 season. When she had started the season, she was at no. 11 in the official rankings of WTA, but, she ended the season as the no. 35 player in the world which indicates how poor her performance was in the 2012 season.

Schiavone played 47 matches in 2012 out of which she managed to win only 25. She won only one title in the 2012 season i.e. WTA event at Strasbourg. She defeated Alize Cornet of France in the final match of that tournament in the straight sets. After that, she didn’t manage to reach the final of any tournament.

Confirming the participation of Schiavone in the Hobart International, the tournament director Mark Handley said, “We are delighted to inform you all that Francesca Schiavone will take part in the Hobart International Tennis tournament next year. She is a star player and a Grand Slam Champion. So, she will definitely increase the popularity of the tournament and will draw more and more people towards the Domain tennis centre.”

Handley also said that talks are going on with some other players as well and he would confirm their participation in the following weeks. The tournament is going to be played on the hard courts of Tasmania. So, it is a perfect warm up tournament for the players before the Australian Open.