14th seed Elena Vesnina got a favourable draw at the Australian Open that could give her a real opportunity to match her best result here in Melbourne, which is reaching the fourth round. She was drawn to open against Ana Bogdan, a qualifier who is just making her second main draw appearance in a grand slam. Faced with injury problems concerning her back just last week at the Apia International Sydney, Vesnina was originally in doubt for the first Grand Slam of the year and entered the tournament with two consecutive first round losses in the first two weeks. It would be questionable if the Russian could be able to return back to her top form after the back injury. However, Vesnina is still the big favourite in the match and definitely has the ability to win the match comfortably. The Russian eventually won the match after 82 minutes despite a tough first set and earned her first victory of 2017.
Vesnina prevails in a tight first set
The Russian looked especially focused and precise in the starting moments of the match as she strolled to a 3-0 double break lead after just nine minutes as a total of six unforced errors for Bogdan in her service games cost her greatly. It was Vesnina’s turn to make a string of unforced errors as she made four of them in the following game to allow Bogdan to get one of the breaks back. With some confidence and momentum running in her, Bogdan saved triple break points to consolidate the break of service and prevent Vesnina from regaining a double break lead. The Russian then held her service game to lead by 4-2 and look closer to a first set victory.
After an exchange of comfortable service holds, Vesnina was placed in an advantageous situation as she led 5-3 and was just one game away from winning the first set. Unexpectedly, Vesnina threw away the lead within the blink of an eye to gift the break back to Bogdan and allow her to return level in the first set. The Russian prevented any chances of a comeback by Bogdan as she quickly regained the lead with yet another break of service to once again have another chance to serve out the first set. This time, Vesnina did the job beautifully as she successfully served out the set to love and clinched the first set after 45 minutes.
Vesnina strolls to victory
Unforced errors once again got the better of Bogdan as Vesnina took advantage of them to get an early break in the second set. The Russian then consolidated the break of service with a tough hold of service where she had to save a break point in the process to affirm her lead and edge closer to a victory. A string of service holds followed until Vesnina got another break at 4-2 to earn a double break lead and look certain for a straight sets victory. The Russian closed it out comfortably in the next game after Bogdan hit yet another string of unforced errors to gift the match to Vesnina after just an hour and 22 minutes.
Next up for Vesnina
The 14th seeded Russian would next face Mandy Minella in the second round, and she should be able to get to the third round in comfortable fashion without facing many troubles.