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KNOCKED OUT

August 23, 2012

Francesca Schiavone has been defeated in the second round of the Women’s tennis singles tournament of London Olympics by Vera Zvonareva of Russia. Zvonareva won the match in the straight sets by 6-3, 6-3. This was the 11th match between these two players and Zvonareva has won all the 11 matches. Zvonareva didn’t have to work hard for her points in the match and she defeated Schiavone easily. She showed a brilliant display of power tennis and fired 13 aces in the match.

Schiavone started well in the first set. But, her service was broken by Zvonareva in the eighth game of the first set. In the ninth game of the first set, Schiavone had a chance to break the service of Zvonareva, but, she was not able to take the advantage of the breakpoint and Zvonareva won the first set by 6-3. In the opening game of the second set, Schiavone again missed the opportunity of breaking the service of Zvonareva. After the match, Schiavone admitted that she missed a lot of opportunities. She said that when you are playing at such a big stage, you are not expected to miss the opportunities too often. As per Schiavone, You don’t get breakpoints easily against the top players. So, when you get the breakpoints, you should make sure that you don’t let them go. She said that she is awfully disappointed and she hadn’t expected to be knocked out of the Olympics so early.

On the other hand, Zvonareva was delighted to go into the third round. She said that when you beat an experienced player like Schiavone, it gives you so much confidence. In the third round, Zvonareva will play against the Wimbledon champion Serena Williams. On being asked about that match, Zvonareva said that playing against Serena would be quite tough, but, she is prepared to take on Serena Williams.

Can Italy do it?

July 24, 2012

Francescsa Schiavone is representing Italy in the Olympics as London 2012 finally starts to get in it’s stride. As proud Italians, we’re keen to see where else we can excel – it may well be that we are all celebrating with Francesca and her Olympic team-mates when the runners come around the final bend of the 800m…

Women’s 800m

Janeth Jepkosgei may no longer have it in her legs to sustain her bold front-running style that won her the 2007 world title, while young Kenyan pretender Winny Chebet has much work to do if she is to translate her Nairobi high altitude form to the chill of Europe at sea level.

Pamela Jelimo, the Olympic champion and world indoor champion, dominates the rankings with her 1min 56.76sec clocking in earlier this month, which she backs up with the 1:58.48 that she ran to win the Kenyan title from Chebet and Jepkosgei. Continue 

Schaivone defeats Zakopavlova

July 24, 2012

The Italian tennis player, Francesca Schiavone, has defeated Klara Zakopalova convincingly in the third round of Wimbledon. Francesca won the match with ease. The score card, 6-0, 6-4, itself says how one sided the match was. Zakopalova has been defeated by Schiavone two times before in 2004. In the US open of 2004, Schiavone showed her the exit door in the very fast round. However, there is not much difference in the current WTA rankings of Schiavone and Zakopalova. Schiavone is currently ranked at no. 26, while, the current ranking of Zakopalova is 31.

Though Schiavone didn’t have a good start to the match, but, as the match went on, she started coming into the groove and dominating her opponent. She broke the service of Zakopalova three times consecutively and the score card was showing 5-0. Thereafter, she saved her service to win the first set 6-0.In the second set also, Schiavone kept the things pretty simple. She broke the service of Zakopalova once in the second set and took the lead. After that, she kept that lead till the end and won the second set 6-4.

Schiavone has been in mixed form through out this year. This is her 20th victory to go with her 17 defeats this year. In the second round, Schiavone will play against Petra Kvitova. Kvitova is currently at no. 4 in the world rankings. She was the winner of the womens’ singles title in the Wimbledon Championship of 2011. So, to defeat Kvitova and to register a place in the semifinals, Schiavone would have to play the tennis of high quality. She herself admitted that Kvitova is going to be a tough opponent and it would not be easy to defeat her. But, she said that she would try to give her best in that match.

Schiavone Demands Rain Explanation

July 19, 2012

Italian tennis star Francesca Schiavone has demanded an explanation from the authorities of Wimbledon regarding the rain rules that were employed for the tournament this year, following an extremely stand-off on court that effectively handed victory to her opponent Petra Kvitova and a place in the quarter finals of the tournament.

The Italian, a former winner of the French Open at Roland Garros has blasted the way the chair umpire handled the match that took place on court number 3 of the All England Club, adding that the match should have been stopped when the rain hit.

The 32 year old Schiavone had taken advantage of some wayward stroke play from Kvitova to claim the first set quite comfortably. However, with the match poised at 6-5 in favor of Kvitova and struck at deuce on the serve of the big hitting Italian, she requested the match umpire to stop the match temporarily. Continue 

SCHIAVONE PROGRESSES

June 27, 2012

The Italian Francesca Schiavone overcame some stubborn resistance from Great Britain’s Laura Robson to progress to the second round of Wimbledon 2012. 32-year old Schiavone is appearing in her 11th championship at the All England Club and won in 3 sets 2-6 6-4 6-4, but for much of the first set looked as though she may have to retire due to injury. Robson came out looking strong, and dropped just two games in the first set, with the Italian seeming to struggle with a back injury that prompted a visit from the trainer at the beginning of the second set.

But with the British player seemingly in control, Schiavone took advantage of some sloppy play to break midway through the second set – after Robson had failed to convert 3 break points herself. From this point onwards the former women’s number 4 improved dramatically, taking the second set and continuing her new-found dominance at the beginning of the final set. Two more breaks of serve left Robson looking beaten, but she regained some composure with the help of the home crowd and pulled one break back. This late effort wasn’t enough however and Schiavone made sure the second break her opponent needed wouldn’t happen easily and eventually the Italian closed out the match at the 5th attempt.

After the match there was some disagreement over Schiavone’s continual slowing of the play, using each opportunity to take her time, but the Italian defended the way in which she went about winning. “She [Robson] wanted to be fast, and sometimes you have to stop a little bit more,” Schiavone said. “We have a lot of seconds [between points] and it’s important to use them. We forget that, because we are in a rush, but it’s important to play at the best, and not just keep running and running.”

Schiavone looking good

May 28, 2012

Francesca Schiavone completed a successful tune up for the French Open with a straight-set win over Alize Cornet in the final of the Strasbourg International. Schiavone earned a 6-4, 6-4 victory on Saturday and will try to carry the momentum into Roland Garros, where she has had her greatest Grand Slam success the past two years. The 31-year-old veteran became the first Italian woman to win a major championship at the 2010 French Open and was the runner-up last year to China’s Li Na. Schiavone had struggled for most of 2012 entering this week. Since a semi final appearance in Brisbane to start the year, she had not been past the third round in any of her subsequent nine events.

Included in that disappointing run were first-round exits at both Madrid and Rome. Between Brisbane and Strasbourg, she posted a match record of just 5-13, including three losses in Fed Cup play. Schiavone captured her fifth career WTA title with Saturday’s triumph and her first since the 2010 French. She’ll open her stay in Paris next week with a first-round match against Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm.

The Italian seems to save her best performances for French Open and by finding her most impressive form in Strasbourg, she may once again prove to be a formidable competitor at this year’s championship. The current world number fourteen who at one point held the number four spot, is coming to the end of her career and so this could well be one of her last chances to grab a second grand slam victory before it is too late.