There goes our Sara Errani at the Guangzhou Open, winning over another China favorite player – Kai-Lin Zhang – and reaching quartefinals for the 9th time this year.
For the second consecutive day Canton’s Centre Court is booked by Errani for the 1st match and for the second consecutive time she faces a Chinese player – n. 206 in women’s world rankings – coming from the qualification draw.
Today’s match was a bit of a storm: taking into account the though weather condition with high humidity and heat rates – our Sarita went up a major advantage in every single set, but still experienced an energy downfall right after to let her opponent – who is undoubtedly more used to this type of climate – gettin back into the game. In the beginning of the third and final set, Zhang called and received an early MTO apparently due to cramps – which would be illegal basing on ITF pro tennis official rules – and stepped into court ready and rested to battle against our warrior, who did not let this slide and put her best effort to close and reach sweet quarterfinals. Final score: 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.
Another day at the office scheduled tomorrow: our Sarita will face the n.8 seed and WTA’s n.66 – Saisai Zheng – as second match on Court1 starting from 4pm local time.