Anastasia eyes Portugal glory
Oeiras (Portugal), May 3: Third seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova fought back from a first-set whitewash to beat unseeded Romina Oprandi prevail 06, 6-3, 6-1 on Friday to reach the women’s final of the ATP/WTA Portugal Open.
The 19th-ranked Russian winner will bid for her second trophy this season after Monterrey, when she plays fourth seed and 2012 finalist Carla Suarez Navarro, who beat Estonian defending champion Kaia Kanepi 6-4, 6-1 in 66 minutes.
The Spanish winner benefitted from seven doublefault off of her Estonian opponent. “It’s great to be in my second final here, it was a good match for me today.
“I did have last year’s final in my mind. She started strong and I was a bit nervous. I served well and kept my intensity in the important moments.”
Pavlyuchenkova said that after winning a quarterfinal the day before which took almost three hours, she was just not fully recovered — especially with a morning start.
“I don’t like to complain, but it was tough to start the match. I didn’t recover well. But I’m happy with how I responded. I turned it around, kept believing and kept playing my game.”
Pavlyuchenkova had few early answers for Oprandi's blistering claycourt game in the quick opening set on a sunny spring day after a week of cold. — AFP