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DEFEATED

January 14, 2014

Francesca Schiavone has been defeated by Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic in the opening round of the Apia International Tennis Tournament which is going on in Sydney, Australia. Safarova won the match in the straight sets by 6-4, 6-4.

It was an unexpected result. Schiavone has got a lot more experience than Safarova and she was the favourite in this match. She was supposed to get better of the Czech player comfortably and reach the second round of the tournament, but, that wasn’t the case to be. She couldn’t play as well as she is capable to and ended up being demolished by her younger opponent.

The New Year isn’t going that well for Schiavone. She has taken part in two tournaments this year and has got knocked out of both of them pretty early.

In the match against Safarova, Schiavone was struggling for rhythm right from the start. She dropped her serve in the very first game of the opening set. However, she managed to recover from that blow quite well by breaking her opponent back in the second game, but, she couldn’t carry on that momentum in the next game and got broken for the second time consecutively. Safarova didn’t lose her lead after that and won her remaining service games to clinch the set by 6-4.

Schiavone was back fighting in the second set. She drew the first blood in the 4th game to get ahead by 3-1. It seemed that she would be able to drag the match into the third set, but, that didn’t happen. She dropped her serve a couple of times on the trot after that and ended up on the losing side.

In the second round, Safarova will be taking on the Danish player Caroline Wozniacki.

FED CUP WIN

November 12, 2013

Italy has won the Fed Cup by defeating Russia in the final tie. This is the 4th time that the Italian team has won this prestigious tournament.

The Russian team had come into this final tie without its superstars who were either injured or busy in playing other tournaments. So, the Italians were considered as the favourites and they didn’t disappoint their fans. They got better of an inexperienced Russian team with ease.

Sara Errani who played a major part in Italy’s victory looked ecstatic while having a chat with the reporters at the end of the tie.

Errani said, “It was a fantastic team effort. Everybody played well. I am really pleased that we won and I contributed in that.”

Errani played two singles matches in this final tie. First she faced Irina Khromacheva and defeated her by 6-1, 6-4. Then, she played against Alisa Kleybanova and beat her by 6-1, 6-1.

Errani looked at her peak in both those matches and bamboozled her opponents with her shots.

The captain of the Italian Fed Cup team, Corrado Barazzutti, hailed Errani for being so impressive in this all important clash.

Barazzutti said, “Sara is a great player and she showed her class. The other players were fantastic too. I want to thank each and every person who helped us during this campaign. It’s a memorable day for all of us.”

With this win, Italy is now equalized with Russia in terms of winning the Fed Cup titles. Both have won 4 titles each.

The country which has won the most number of Fed Cup titles is USA. They have won 13 titles. The no. 2 position is jointly acquired by Czech Republic and Australia. These two teams have won 7 titles each.

SCHIAVONE LOSES

September 4, 2013

Francesca Schiavone has been defeated by the local superstar Serena Williams in the opening round of the ongoing US Open.  Serena won the match easily in the straight sets by 6-0, 6-1.

It was another display of destructive tennis by Serena. She has entered Flushing Meadows as hot favourite this year and she justified that tag in style yesterday. It took her just about an hour to knock her Italian opponent out of the competition.

It was the 8th match between these two players and Serena defeated Schiavone for the 6th time.

In the post match interview, Serena said, “Competing against a quality player like Francesca in the opening round is not an easy draw. I couldn’t have taken this match lightly. I had to be spot on.”

Serena came into the opening set in a ferocious mood. The crowd was behind her too. The spectators out there were cheering each and every shot coming out of the racket of the 31 years old local veteran.

Serena needed just 20 odd minutes to seal the opener. Her shots were just too good for Schiavone who looked all over the place. The Italian couldn’t win even a single game.

Serena seemed to be doing the same thing in the second set too. With a couple of successive breakthroughs (in the 1st and the 3rd game), she raced to a lead of 4-0 and it seemed that she would secure double bagel, but, that wasn’t the case to be.

Schiavone managed to hold her serve in the 5th game and made sure that she would not have to suffer the humiliation of double bagel defeat.

However, that remained the only game to be won by Schiavone in the match. With a serve hold in the 6th game and then, with a breakthrough in the 7th game, Serena clinched the second set by 6-1 and moved into the next round.

FOGNINI WINS

July 22, 2013

Francesca Schiavone’s countryman, Fabio Fognini, has defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in the final of the Mercedes Cup. Fognini won the match in three sets by 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

This is the first ATP title won by Fognini in his career. He totally deserved that. He played some wonderful tennis against Kohlschreiber who was given the second seed in the tournament.

This was the 3rd match between these two players and Fognini defeated Kohlschreiber for the first time.

In the post match interview, Fognini said, “I had been in the finals a couple of times before, but, on both the occasions, I had lost. So, I was nervous today. But, fortunately, things went my way and I won.”

“I am glad to win my first title. This has been an incredible week for me. I played at my very best and defeated some quality players. This win is a real confidence booster for me.”

Kohlschreiber on the other hand was looking perplexed while talking to the reporters after the match. He said, “I am obviously sad to have lost the final. I didn’t manage to be consistent right through the match. Fabio had a fantastic tournament and I would like to congratulate him.”

In the opening set, neither of the two players managed to sneak a breakthrough in the first 10 games and the scores were levelled at 5-5.

Fognini dropped his serve in the 11th game to get trailed by 5-6. He needed a breakthrough in the next game to take the set further, but, he failed to do that. Kohlschreiber held his serve in the 12th game quite easily and sealed the opener by 7-5.

In the next two sets, Kohlschreiber couldn’t keep the momentum going. He served poorly in both the sets and lost both of them by the same margin of 4-6.

AZARENKA BEATS GOERGES

May 28, 2013

Victoria Azarenka has defeated Julia Goerges of Germany in the second round of Internazionali BNL d’Italia 2013. Azarenka won the match in the straight sets by 6-2, 6-0.

It was a fully one sided contest. Azarenka was in full flow and she took just one hour to demolish her opponent and knock her out of the tournament.

This was the 6th match between these two players and Azarenka defeated Goerges for the 5th time. Continue 

CORNET IS NEXT

April 29, 2013

Francesca Schiavone will face Alize Cornet of France in the quarter final of the Grand Prix de SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem.

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.