Alize Lim, the French Unseeded player, ground down the third-seeded Valeria Savinykh of Russia during a succession of fierce rallies to reach the final round of qualifying draw at the 2011 Swedish Open, being played here at Bastad, Sweden.
The Frenchwoman defeated the Russian in straight sets, maintaining her extra-ordinary start to the tournament with a 7-5, 6-3 victory in the second qualifying round of Swedish Open 2011.
Lim looked totally comfortable and never allowed the third-seeded Russian to take the initiative as she was forced into doing most of the chasing and appeared second-best.
Savinykh showed effects from Saturday’s marathon three-set win over Ana Vrljic of Croatia but there was still some mental and physical stamina for some breath-taking tennis at times as she recorded a straight sets won over the Russian and thrilled the Swede crowd from the very start with the accuracy of her hitting.
With both players looking for each other’s weaknesses, the Frenchwoman managed to come out on top in most of the extensive exchanges in the early stages and raced to a 4-0 lead that propelled nervous mumbling among the Savinykh’s fans.
Savinykh clawed her way back to 4-5 with three break points and saved three Lim set points on her own serve to draw level at 5-5. However, it was all in vain as the French held confidently and then broke Savinykh for the third time to move a set ahead.
The Russian began the second set strongly, breaking Lim in the opening game but unfortunately, a sliced-backhand by Savinykh, which sailed narrowly wide, helped give a buoyant Russian a 2-1 lead in the second set.
But the Russian broke straight back and utilized all her powers, making it 2-all and there was not much of a difference in their game, although having a whopping difference of 106 places in world’s rankings.
However, Savinykh started to look more aggressive but each time she threatened, Lim responded and with the Swede crowd thrilled by the skills on show, she held serve to eventually move 5-3 ahead.
With victory in her sights, Lim brought up a couple of match points on the Savinykh serve, but the Russian remained firm and saved all of them, giving her a glimmer of hope.
Nevertheless, the Frenchwoman did not make any mistake the last time around, clinching a memorable victory which took her to the final round of qualifier in two hours and three minutes of play.
Up next for the Frenchwoman is the German Justine Ozga in the final qualifying round at the Swedish Open 2011. Read More
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