Vera Zvonareva had to listen to a lot of criticism this season. The Beijing Olympic medalist will turn 39 this year and many experts expected her to be about to end her career on the WTA circuit. Vera’s results for the current year also suggest these ideas. If in doubles, in which the Russian tennis player won Grand Slam tournaments, Zvonareva still did at least something, then in singles she flew again and again in the first round.
The fact that Vera would qualify alone for the US Open seemed something between a bet and the desire to extend her life in tennis a little longer. But subsequent events proved that it was too soon for Zvonareva to hang her racket on a nail.
In the first round, the rival of the Russian tennis player was the Australian Jamie Forlis. And Vera, with her play in this match, clearly demonstrated that experience in professional tennis is very expensive. The representative of the Green Continent remained on the court for just over an hour, and in the second delivery Zvonareva completely, speaking in tennis language, Forlis hung up the wheel. It became clear that the goals of the Russian tennis player in the last Grand Slam tournament of the year are far from tourist.
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The second round was much tougher for Vera. Both games of the match with the Greek Despina Papamihail turned out to be extremely tenacious. But in decisive moments, Zvonareva turned out to be more precise, twice thwarting her opponent’s plans for the upcoming tie-break. 7:5, 7:5 – and Vera was one step away from making the main draw, which seemed unbelievable.
She faced Moyuka Uchijima in the ranking final. This match was a clear illustration of the confrontation between experience and youth. When Vera won her Olympic medal, the Japanese woman was the age people usually start first grade. It seemed that Zvonareva in key episodes simply did not have enough speed and stamina. But Vera’s performance belied these fears.
In the first game, Zvonareva achieved what she had done twice in the previous match. That is, pick up the last (sixth) service of a Japanese in a set. And then Faith was unstoppable. As a result, 7:5, 6:3 in just an hour and a half, and Zvonareva takes a huge step towards the main draw of the US Open, forcing skeptics to silence in shame. Through three qualifying rounds, she did not drop a single set to her opponents. And now, speaking of Zvonareva’s prospects at the US Open, those who sent her to an early well-deserved rest, it pays to exercise quite a bit of caution. Vera is ready to pleasantly surprise her fans even more.
