Lucrezia Stefanini ITA, 05/15/1998
The Italian at the WTA 250 tournament in Warsaw Lucretia Stefanini showed remarkable mastery on the Polish outdoor hard court and won right away on the debut Linda Fruhvirtova, Number 7 of sowing. The Italian triumphed with a score of 6-1, 7-6 (4) after two hours of intense competition.
In the opening set, Fruhvirtova only showed signs of resistance early on, holding to advantage in the opening after trailing 0:30. However, he couldn’t do much to counter Stefanini’s strong performance. The Italian showed great determination, claiming three breaks in a row. Stefanini dominated the first set, didn’t allow a breakball and won with a clear 6:1 in just half an hour.
The second set was much tighter. Fruhvirtova started aggressively, earning a break and leading to 2-0. But Stefanini, showing great fighting spirit, avoided a possible 0-3 and scored a valuable counter-attack against zero that led to the 2-2 equaliser. Although the Czech then managed another break and made it 4-2, Stefanini wasn’t discouraged. The Italian had a chance to counterattack in game eight but missed. However, she didn’t give up and continued to press, so the Czech had to give up when it was necessary for the set.
Tensions rose as the set reached the tiebreaker. Lucrezia quickly extended a 3-1 lead to 5-2. Despite a lost mini-break, the Italian coped well with the situation and earned three match points. At the second attempt he ended the game 7:4, after one and a half hours of play in the second set alone.
With this win, Stefanini is now preparing to face off against the winner of the Indiana game Ankita Raina and British Jodie Burrage.
WTA Warsaw
Linda Fruhvirtova [7]• 0
1
6
0
Lucretia Stefanini0
6
7
0
Winner: Stephanie
