Zvonareva makes a comeback in Moscow

The Russian, Vera Zvonareva swept aside Karolina Pliskova 6-1, 6-2 in the second round of the VTB Kremlin Cup. The former World Number two Russian makes it to her first quarterfinal since 2012 in Charleston. Also, Zvonareva also won her first victory against the top ten players, since the time she defeated the World Number one Caroline Wozniacki at the 2011 WTA Finals. Zvonareva wrapped up her victory against the Czech Republican in 73 minutes. The 2008 VTB Kremlin Cup runner-up Zvonareva will next play the Latvian, Anastasija Sevastova.

However, Pliskova books a berth at the WTA Finals in Singapore as Kiki Bertens surrendered to a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 defeat to Aliaksandra Sasnovich. “I’m delighted to be appearing at the WTA Finals for the third time,” said Pliskova to the WTA website.“I have such great memories from playing in Singapore in 2016 and 2017, and I can’t wait to close out the year competing against the other elite players of 2018.” 

It is a bliss for athletes to perform in front of their home crowd. Today the World Number 161, Zvonareva got an opportunity to play and win at her home ground. This is her 11th main draw appearance at Kremlin Cup. In 2008 she lost to the Serbian, Jelena Jankovic. Also, she was the finalist at 2010 Wimbledon and US Open. 

“I really started to play much better than in my previous matches,” Zvonareva said. “I had a very difficult start, the first two matches were so tough, I didn’t show my best tennis. But I tried to fight, so I found the options to play my game. Today I managed to reach a high level and it finally happened. When I started to play last year, I had a lot of injuries prior. I understand that tennis has become more athletic. Physical training often plays a more important role than technical training. You need to improve all the components of the game to play at a high level”.