Second seeds Hsieh Su-wei and Flavia Pennetta advanced to the quarter-finals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia women’s doubles at the Foro Italico in Rome yesterday, but missed opportunities to put away their opponents made their second-round match much harder work than it should have been.
The Taiwanese-Italian duo cruised into an early 3-0 lead over Shuko Aoyama of Japan and Renata Voracova of the Czech Republic, before their opponents broke back to 3-2. Hsieh and Pennetta then extended their lead to 5-2, before failing to take advantage of a set point as the Japanese-Czech pairing pulled back to 5-3.
Two more missed set-point opportunities at 5-3 and another at 5-4 saw Aoyama and Voracova level the score at 5-5, before Hsieh and Pennetta broke their opponents for a 6-5 lead and finally took advantage of their fifth set point to wrap up the first set 7-5 in 46 minutes.
Photo: Reuters
The second set opened with two breaks of serve, before Hsieh and Pennetta lost a game from 40-0 up and then failed to convert a break-point opportunity in the next game to fall 3-1 behind.
Aoyama and Voracova went on to win the set 6-2 in 34 minutes and set up a super tiebreak with the momentum in their favor, but the second seeds managed to turn the tide to complete a 7-5, 2-6, 10-2 victory in 1 hour, 32 minutes.
Hsieh and Pennetta saved six of 12 break-point chances and converted five of 11 to set up a quarter-final against either eighth-seeded Russian pairing Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or dangerous wild-cards Simona Halep of Romania and Francesca Schiavone of Italy.
In the men’s singles on Wednesday, Andy Murray improved his record on clay this year to 10-0 with a 6-4, 6-3 win over world No. 38 Jeremy Chardy.
Third seed Murray considered withdrawing before the tournament because of fatigue after his perfect start to the clay-court season, but his game showed no signs of wear at the Foro Italico.
“My legs were a bit tired at the beginning, then I started to feel better after the first few games. I felt like I played a really great match,” said Murray, who committed only 10 unforced errors to Chardy’s 26. “I moved well and made it difficult for him to get free points.”
Seven-time champion Rafael Nadal was also sharp in a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Turkish qualifier Marsel Ilhan, while Roger Federer began his pursuit of an elusive crown with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 win over world No. 24 Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay.
Rome is one of only two Masters titles that Federer has not won — along with Monte Carlo. He is a three-time finalist.
Federer often followed his serve to the net and displayed a series of crisp volleys.
Also on Wednesday, fifth seed Kei Nishikori advanced with a 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 win over Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic.
Fabio Fognini, Italy’s top-ranked man at world No. 31, upset 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 7-6 (11/9), 4-6, 6-0 and next faces sixth seed Tomas Berdych.
In the women’s singles, former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka eliminated fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 7-6 (7/2), while sixth seed Eugenie Bouchard ended a six-match losing streak with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan.
Also on Wednesday, Christina McHale of the US defeated last year’s finalist, Sara Errani, 6-4, 6-4 in front of the Italian’s home crowd and next faces world No. 1 Serena Williams.
Second seed Halep beat Alison Riske of the US 6-3, 6-0, Russian qualifier Daria Gavrilova eliminated seventh seed Ana Ivanovic 5-7, 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (9/7) and Serbian qualifier Bojana Jovanovski defeated Madison Keys of the US 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
Venus Williams, the No. 14 seed and the 1999 champion, beat Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-3.
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