IVANOVIC WINS SCHIAVONE BATTLE

March 13, 2012

On Tuesday, Ana Ivanovic, former World No. 1 in women’s ranking, grilled Francesca Schiavone to seal a berth in the round 2 of the Dubai Duty Free Championships. Ivanovic kept her unbeaten run against the Italian tennis player in their 4th match with a straight win 6 – 1, 7 – 5. She took just 1 hour and 41 minutes to beat the 7th seed player.

The Serbian tennis sensation started the match in a classic manner; winning the first 5 games of the first set including two breaks which left Schiavone at a complete loss or words. Schaivone managed to hold just 1 game before having her confidence squeezed again, and losing the first set in record time.

Nothing was going the Italian’s way and she appeared frustrated at her game play. She was nowhere near her brilliant form and her shots were wayward a lot of the time; eveny her favourite forehand winners were failing to find the target.

Francesca Schiavone steadied herself in the break between sets and returned as an improved player; managing to hold on to her serve in the first few games to hold the scores level at 2 – 2. A switch of breaks saw the score tick over to 3 – 3 and with no further drama scores advanced to 4 – 4.

Both of them broke each other three times in succession before Ana Ivanovic managed to hold on to her serve at take the set 7 – 5.

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SCHIAVONE AIMING HIGH

February 14, 2012

Italy have reached the semi final stages of the Fed Cup after star player Flavia Pennetta recovered from a sore back to team up with Roberta Vinci to take the doubles match against the Ukraine and win the tie with a 3-2 margin.

But most of the credit for this win has gone to veteran tennis star Francesca Schiavone who made a strong statement of her intentions this year with a strong display against Kateryna Bondarenko, whom she beat in three sets after falling behind very early in the match.

Schiavone won her match 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-4 to give the Italians a 2-1 lead in the tie before Ukraine pulled it back to 2-2 and the rest was left with Pennetta and Vinci, which they did quite convincingly. Schiavone, who has been the champion at Roland Garros, the French Open in 2010 and reached the final again last year before losing out to Na Li fell behind very early in the game and almost down and out in the first set, Francesca Schiavone made a strong comeback to take the set to a tie break where she lost 8-6.

She was also down 5-1 in the second set before rallying back to win the set 7-5 and take the match into a tie breaking third set, which she won pretty convincingly with a 6-4 margin. Schiavone has not been in the best of forms over the last year or so and the final of the French Open was her best result but this year, she is already showing signs that she has another Grand Slam in her before she retires.

Francesca Schiavone, at 31 years of age, has served the Italian team over the last 10 or so years and Pennetta and the others want to send her out on a high with a Fed Cup title win.

DISAPPOINTING AUSSIE OPEN

February 8, 2012

Francesca Schiavone had a disappointing Australian Open, crashing out in the second round to her compatriot Oprandi, 6-4, 6-3.

After such a promising start at Melbourne Park, beating home favourite and current US Open champion Samantha Stosur, expectation of the number 10 seed’s success was high and yet it was the unseeded Romina Oprandi, currently ranked number 80 in the world, who outclassed Schiavone in just the second round of the competition.

Oprandi started the match with a heavily strapped thigh, and repeatedly had treatment for a hamstring problem, and then a foot injury late on in the match. These continual interruptions eventually led Schiavone to complain, but this was ignored, and Oprandi’s injuries didn’t seem to affect her game as she put in a solid performance, with few mistakes, a high first serve percentage, and a very impressive 83% success rate on her second serve points.

In contrast, Schiavone made 35 unforced errors along with 9 double faults, and failed to find the kind of form that she is capable of producing. The match was over in 84 minutes, with Schiavone’s defiance even less noticeable in a short second set.

Schiavone is primarily a clay court player, though she also enjoys quite a lot of success on hard court, so it is a surprise that the Australian Open was such a disappointment for her – last year she made it through to the quarterfinals in Melbourne.

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SCHIAVONE DEFEATS JANKOVIC

January 24, 2012

Francesca Schiavone has recently been in the spotlight in the sporting world after she defeated the previous world no. 1, Jelena Jankovic at the Brisbane International this year. But her performance at the Brisbane International has been commendable even before that.

Defeating Jankovic was what made the tennis community, but she began the Australian Open by defeating the fifth seeded local, Samantha Stosur, in straight sets. Stosur gave up her serve five times before she was finally defeated 6-2, 6-4in an hour and a half by the no. 11 player. Stosur’s loss came soon after her defeat at the hands of the Czech player, Iveta Benesova.

Francesca Schiavone’s match against Jankovic in the quarter finals was a total nail biter. Jankovic was playing very well early on in the match. In the first set, she got an early lead of 3-0. But Schiavone rallied to get her own back in the match and the scores became 3-3.

Soon after, the Italian rallied amazingly to claim another break, but lost her advantage through her own fault when she had two double faults. These came soon after Jankovic decided to consult her coach on the court.  At this point, even the best tennis betting tips websites were saying that punters should back Jankovic, but Schiavone soon managed to prove them all wrong.

Jankovic has recently changed her coach and other members of her management staff in a bid to go up from her current 14th ranking. The set ended 5-7 in favor of Jankovic. The next set began much like the previous one, with Jankovic looking to finish it off quickly. But they soon started to battle for the breaks and Schiavone broke her opponent’s serve when she was serving for the match at 5-3. Jankovic lost two match points and the set ended at 7-6.

Riding on her momentum, Schiavone dominated the final set, especially in terms of serve which was her major shortcoming in the earlier sets. She won the final set 6-3. Next up in the Brisbane International is Kaia Kanepi.