2011 French Open: Lucie Safarova eases past Kirsten Flipkens to advance into the second round
Czech tennis-pro Lucie Safarova eased past Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium 6-1, 6-1 in her opening match at 2011 French Open. The 24-year-old looked in destructive form here at Roland Garros on Sunday and required only 57 minutes to
prevail against her opponent.
Safarova looked to attack her rival right from the start of the match. Her aggressive approach allowed her to put her opponent under extreme pressure. The Czech broke the serve three times in the opening set to establish firm control
over the contest and then held on to her serve games very comfortably to claim the opener 6-1.
The second set also followed a similar pattern with Safarova breaking the serve at regular intervals. She smashed her blazing forehand and backhand winners all over the court and did not allow the challenger to breath. Flipkens
looked clueless against the onslaught from her opponent and leaked crucial points in the process. Safarova converted a long rally to set up three match points for her and then converted one of them to seal an emphatic victory.
Ranked 37 in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings, Safarova served ferociously and achieved 63 per cent first serve conversion. With an 80 per cent share of points on her first serve, Safarova forced her opponent to defend for
most part of the match. Also, at the receiving end, she secured 56 per cent of the points. She also made most the chances that were presented to her as she converted five out of nine break points in the match.
The Belgian on the other hand looked a bit out of sorts and made critical mistakes during the match. She committed 22 unforced errors in the two sets as compared to only 13 made by Safarova. Her first serve conversion was also
on the lower side as she struggled to win points on her weak second serve.
Safarova has been in decent touch since the start of this season. She started the year with a quarterfinal appearance at 2011 Brisbane International. At the Australian Open she made it to the third round. She then gave a number
of considerable performances on the WTA tour including her final appearance at the Malaysian Open and quarterfinal place at the red clay courts Madrid Open. However if she wants to progress to the finals stages here at Roland Garros she will have to up her
game play and be more consistent. In her next match-up at the prestigious Grand Slam tournament, Safarova will be facing German Julia Goerges who has been in excellent form over the last few months. As the seventeenth seed Goerges will be the favourite for
this clash.
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