Russia’s 23 year old Anastasia Voronova was the player to cause the
major surprise in the early exchanges in the first round of the Women’s
Singles event at the H.I.S.World Championships in Yokohama on the
morning of Thursday 30th April 2009.
In a contest, where she
established a commanding lead and then seemingly had an attack of the
nerves and did her very best to lose, she overcame Croatia’s Tamara
Boros in six games.
It was a though she was playing Russian
roulette, waiting for the bullet to eventually signal doom and the end
of the duel. Eventually, the bullet was fired.
Currently occupying the no. 172 spot on the ITTF Women’s World
Rankings, she recorded victory by the margin of 11-9, 11-5, 11-1,
13-15, 14-16, 11-7 against the player who currently stands at no.35 and
in February and June 2002, was at the dizzy heights of no.2.
Comprehensive in Kuwait
The
performance of Voronova was a continuation of the excellent form she
has shown on the ITTF Pro Tour in 2009; in particular at the Salwa Cup
Kuwait Open where by the narrowest of margins she beat Korea’s Seok Ha
Jung, a player making her debut for Korea in Yokohama.
Against
the Korean in February it was a nail-biting finish, against Tamara
Boros, it was a case of being with millimetres of the finishing line
but finding it hard to break the tape.
Passing the Finishing Line
She
won a close first game; it gave her confidence; then she romped through
the next two, established a lead in the fourth and then played in
tentative mode.
Staring victory in the face, Boros was more
relaxed, played freely, saved match points, did exactly the same in the
fifth game before trying to emulate Harry Houdini proved a step too
far; to the relief of the Russian contingent in the Yokohama arena,
Voronova clinched the sixth game with a degree of breathing space.
Elena Troshneva
Success for Russia and in the early encounters there was further reason for Russian smiles.
Elena
Troshneva, 20 years old, accounted for Veronika Pavlovich of Belarus in
six games; her fast attacking play proving the telling factor.
Troshneva won 8-11, 12-10, 11-9, 8-11, 11-2, 12-10.
Source: www.ittf.com
