Tennis
Errani stuns Kuznetsova
2012-06-03 13:05
Paris - Sara Errani of Italy reached the French Open quarter-finals on Sunday with a 6-0, 7-5 win over Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia.
The 21st seed will play 10th seed Angelique Kerber of Germany, who defeated Petra Martic of Croatia 6-3, 7-5, for a place in the semi-finals.
Errani has been the form player on clay this year winning tournaments in Acapulco, Barcelona and Budapest. She also reached the Australian Open quarter-finals in January on hardcourts.
After a tough opening game on a cold, windy Philippe Chatrier centre Court, Errani took total control as former champion Kuznetsova struggled to put her game together.
The first set was completed in just 30 minutes and it was more of the same at the start of the second as Errani, one of the smaller players on the circuit at just 1.64m, used her mobility and claycourt expertise to good effect.
Errani moved 2-0 up before Kuznetsova finally found some form, breaking the Italian to love to open her account.
The Russian levelled at 2-2 and had a break point in the next game to move ahead, but Errani saved that with a blistering forehand winner at the end of a long rally.
Two more break points followed two games later and Kuznetsova converted the first of these to move 4-3 up. She then served for the set at 5-4 up but was broken to love.
Errani took the next two games to reach her first French Open quarter-finals.