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Kuznetsova, Schiavone set to renew hostilities today
DUBAI — Svetlana Kuznetsova and Francesca Schiavone are all set for their first rematch since contesting the second-longest match ever at the Australian Open last month here in the emirate.
The dogged duo prevailed in their respective second-round encounters at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Wednesday, with the Italian easing past Chinese qualifier Shuai Zhang 6-3, 6-1, while her Russian adversary eventually overcame Wimbledon finalist Tsvetana Pironkova, of Bulgaria, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.
They’re now set to renew hostilities at the Aviation Club on Thursday, barely 25 days after spending four hours and 44 minutes on court at Melbourne Park as Schiavone triumphed 6-4, 1-6, 16-14 in an enthralling, historic battle.
“Svetlana, for sure, because – when you like to play tennis – it’s good that you play against a top player,” the reigning French Open champion, 30, replied when asked if she’d prefer to face Kuznetsova or Pironkova up next.
“I really want to play against her because we know each other, we play good tennis and we can enjoy it and improve.”
Schiavone was though adamant there would be no bettering of last month’s mammoth tussle, jokingly adding: “I tell you, after two hours, I’ll take the racquet and put it in the bag.”
In dispensing with Zhang, Schiavone claimed nine of the 10 games from 3-3 in the first set in a highly-dominant display that had television commentators Chris Bradnam and Annabel Croft comparing her with Belgian great Justine Henin.
“It’s fantastic and good to hear, but we have a totally different kind of play,” she added. “Everybody, when they see a one-handed backhand, thinks Justine and Francesca.
“But, I put much more spin on the ball. I use this to defend and play shorter. She used her backhand to attack and, on the forehand side, hers was much more flat.
“But, I can understand that people that just maybe have a passion for tennis look and say: ‘Ah, she has the same shots as Justine.’ I hope, one day, they will say: ‘Ah, you have the same shots as Francesca!’”
Kuznetsova, meanwhile, expects to enter the fray without the burden of expectancy, believing Schiavone to be the clear favourite and carrying the most pressure to perform given their prior meeting and respective rankings.
“It was disappointing, but I had so many people who know me and watched that match come up to me afterwards and say: ‘It was a great match,” the 16th-seeded Russian stated.
“If it would have been a final, it would have been amazing to play one like this...but to win!
“It’s going to be a very hard and tough match. I have nothing to lose as she’s the favourite and the pressure is on her. I’m just going to go out there and play.
“We always have long matches and it’s an interesting game as we don’t play ‘boom-boom tennis.’ We play different kinds of spin and run around. That’s it.”
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