Vera ousts Serena in Eastbourne second round

AEGON INTERNATIONAL
Eastbourne, England
June 13-18, 2011
$618,000/Premier
Grass/Outdoors

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Singles - Second Round
(1) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. (WC) Serena Williams (USA) 36 76(5) 75
Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) d. (2) Li Na (CHN) 76(7) 63
(3) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. (WC) Elena Baltacha (GBR) 61 76(0)
Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. (4) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 63 62
(5) Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 76(8) 76(4)
(6) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. María José Martínez Sánchez (ESP) 63 63
(7) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. (Q) Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) 63 62
Venus Williams (USA) d. Ana Ivanovic (SRB) 63 62

Doubles - Quarterfinals
(1) Peschke/Srebotnik (CZE/SLO) d. Grandin/Uhlirova (RSA/CZE) 61 63

Suspended due to rain
Peng/Zheng (CHN/CHN) lead (4) Mattek-Sands/Shaughnessy (USA/USA) 32

Doubles - First Round
Gajdosova/Stosur (AUS/AUS) d. (3) Mirza/Vesnina (IND/RUS) 57 64 106
Peng/Zheng (CHN/CHN) d. (WC) Keothavong/Watson (GBR/GBR) 60 6

Venus Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Janko Tipsarevic are into the quarter-finals of the singles events in Eastbourne after winning their round two matches today.

Williams brushed aside former world No.1 Ana Ivanovic in straight sets, Azarenka defeated Britain's Elena Baltacha

Suspended due to rain
Martínez Sánchez/Medina Garrigues (ESP/ESP) are tied with Craybas/Dushevina (USA/RUS) 11

Vera Zvonareva avenged her 2010 Wimbledon final defeat to Serena Williams as she defeated the American in round two of the AEGON International at Eastbourne today.

The top seeded Russian recovered from a set down to win 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 after three hours of play on Centre Court at Devonshire Park.

"I feel pretty good," said Zvonareva reflecting on her win, "I played a tough match today and [am] happy that I won it. It is never easy against Serena.

"She's a great fighter and she came out with some great shots and played some good points at the very important moments. But that's what good players do. I kept fighting and I'm really happy that I won it. "

It was the American who started the brighter breaking her opponent twice in the opening set and looking comfortable on the grass trading groundstrokes.

However in set two Zvonareva increased her first serve percentage and competed equally with Williams, the pair trading breaks all the way to a tie-break.

The breaker went with serve until the top seed edged ahead and when she held set point at 6-5 a Williams fall allowed the Russian to level the match at one set all.

In the final set the momentum was with Zvonareva as she raced into a 5-2 lead, only to see Williams regain one break and hold for 4-5.

The Russian was given a second chance to serve for the match but Williams dug deep, saved three match points and levelled the set at 5-5 with a scorching backhand winner.

At this point the No.1 seed showed her mettle by rebounding straight back to break the American for a fourth time in the set and at the third time of asking she served it out, winning it to love with a forehand winner right in the corner.

The Russian will now met Sam Stosur in the last eight.

Serena wasn't too disappointed with her loss, "One or two points [different], I could have won the match. So it's not overly disappointing. It's just the fact I just kept missing short balls.

"It was a good two matches for me. I couldn't be happier with the amount of tennis that I've played. Every time I come here [to Eastbourne] I enjoy it. I think it's a beautiful city on the water. It's so pretty. I look out and I see the amazing water and rocks. I want to get in, but it seems really cold. We don't like cold water."