Another impact of Nadia Podoroska: the Argentine tennis player beat Petra Kvitova, number 9 in the ranking, and advanced to the four-finals in one of the Melbourne WTAs. Credit: William WEST / AFP
Nadia Podoroska continues taking firm steps in its growth on the tennis circuit: this Wednesday it beat the Czech Petra Kvitova, number 9 in the world ranking, and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Yarra Valley Classic, one of the WTA competitions organized in Melbourne, preparatory for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the season, which will be played from the 8th of the current season.
For the 23-year-old Rosario and 47th in the world rankings, the triumph against a double Wimbledon winner (the Czech, former world number 2, celebrated at the All England in 2011 and 2014), came after a very high-class match, a grueling three-set battle and 2h38m match: it was 5-7, 6-1 and 7-6 (9-7). The performance of the player who reached the Roland Garros semifinals in 2020 is impressive, as she achieved the second victory of her career against a Top Ten. Precisely in Paris, last year, it was the first: against the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, then 5th, in the quarterfinals.
The next rival of the Argentine tennis player trained by Juan Pablo Guzmán and Emiliano Redondi (and physically prepared for almost three years by the team led by Martiniano Orazi, PF of Diego Schwartzman, in Sports Lab) will be the Czech Marketa Vondrousova, 21st of the ranking and former 14th, which prevailed in the only confrontation between the two, in the first round of Roland Garros 2017. The match was scheduled for this Thursday, but was suspended (in principle for Friday), like the other matches , for a state of alarm in the city after a positive case emerged in one of the tennis players’ official hotels.
Yarra Valley Classic quarterfinalists:[R][R] Barty vs Rogers [R][R][R][R] Collins vs S. Williams [R][R][R][R] Vondrousova vs Podoroska [R][R][R][R] Muguruza vs Kenin [R][R]
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&- wta (@WTA)
February 3, 2021
Podoroska’s performance against Kvitova on the hard surface of Melbourne Park is undoubtedly one of the most valuable and showy of her life. He achieved very high percentages with the service: he obtained 73% of first aces, he won 62% of points with the first and 48% with the second, he scored five aces, he committed two double faults. In addition, he broke the service to the European left-hander six times. In a great emotional challenge, Nadia showed mettle and poise even in the thorniest moments. After losing the first set and winning, forcefully, the second, Podoroska started the third set 3-0 up, but Kvitova (who at some point had problems with her left foot, for which she was treated by a physiotherapist in a couple of chances) equaled it. They arrived at the tie-break, Argentina was 5-2 down, but had the lucidity to turn it around and celebrate.
Podoroska started 2020 behind the 250th place in the WTA ranking, far from the big lights. But she finished it inside the Top 50, the best placement for an Argentine tennis player in almost a decade, since Gisela Dulko in July 2011 (37th). And he again gave Argentine and South American women’s tennis a long-awaited space.
The Argentinian Federico Coria (92nd), who opened his tour of Australia with a triumph at the Murray River Open, one of the two ATP 250 competitions organized in Melbourne, could do nothing in his second presentation. American Taylor Fritz (30th) defeated him 6-2 and 6-1, in 52 minutes. Mago Coria’s brother came to the match after beating Moldovan Radu Albot 7-6 (7-3) and 6-4.
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