Wimbledon 2009: Glamorous Gisela Dulko bows out to Nadia Petrova with whimper

Having sent shockwaves through the Russian tennis circuit earlier this week by knocking out former champion Maria Sharapova in her second-round match, Gisela Dulko had the opportunity to see off another top Russian seed in the form of world No 10 Nadia Petrova.

Expecting a battle between a world No 45, who has twice beaten former world No 1 Martina Navratilova, and a two-time quarter-finalist, the crowd on Court 3 was instead presented with a comedy of errors which saw both players depend on the others’ mistakes to labour through a 1hr 48min match, with Petrova the eventual victor.

Simply put, the match was not the three-set thriller the 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 scoreline might suggest.

Petrova looked out of sorts in the first set. Failing to convert simple points and consistently misplacing her serve, the Russian’s game was a far cry from what one would expect of a top-10 ranked player.

Dulko on the other hand needed just one break point to take a 1-0 set lead.

The mistakes continued into the second with long balls, double faults and a series of unforced errors now affecting both players, the crowd turned their attentions to the action on Court 7.

Even Petrova acknowledged the unimpressive nature of the tie when after preventing Dulko from breaking her serve in the 54th minute she said: “It’s taken me an hour to get this right.” Unfortunately she hadn’t.

The Russian went on to waste four break points before finally seizing her chance in the seventh game to lead 5-3. Credit where due however, she took the second set with a 113 mph serve.

Dulko’s form dropped in the final set, and her errors proved costly when she lost her opening game of service. Petrova however did no better and, as she had done all afternoon, the former world No 3 failed to convert four break points which would have wrapped the match up.

The final game provided the best action of the afternoon but Dulko’s comeback proved too little too late and Petrova went through.

Petrova will need to raise the bar if she is to make the quarter-final stage for the second consecutive year. She faces world No 8 Victoria Azarenka in the final 16 on Monday, a player she has beaten twice in the last 12 months and carries a 2-1 record over.