Akita/Rottmann strain past Hsu/Webley-Smith in opening doubles match – PTT Pattaya Open 2012
In the only doubles match played on Monday, the unseeded Japanese-Austrian duo of Shiho Akita and Nicole Rottmann registered a nail-biting victory over the other unseeded pair of Wen-Hsin Hsu and Emily Webley-Smith in the first
round of the PTT Pattaya Open. Akita and Rottmann battled extremely hard for one hour and 14 minutes of play before they finally nailed down their opponents at 3-6, 6-2, 11-9.
The enthralling contest was played on the outdoor hard courts of the Dusit Thani Hotel in Pattaya City, Thailand and is a part of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International Tour swing. Akita and Rottmann stringed their
individual efforts to overcome their resilient opponents in the game. The contest remained evenly poised until the last minute of play, with both duos labouring extremely hard to clinch victory.
There was not much difference in the overall match stats of the two teams and it was just a matter of time that Akita and Rottmann clinched a vital mini-break in the super tie-breaker round to claim victory. Hsu and Webley-Smith
played very well throughout the match but couldn’t give the finishing touch towards the end. They were off to a flyer in the opener but lost their ways through the middle parts of the match to let their rivals’ comeback at them.
Despite of an ordinary serve precision of 58 per cent and coughing eight double faults in the match, Akita and Rottmann secured 22 out of 33 first serve points and converted all of their four break points to turn the tables on
their opponents. They had a decent start in the opening set, breaking Hsu and Webley-Smith’s serve in the third game to lead 2-1. An immediate counterattack from the other side of the court resulted in the ultimate winners dropping their serve in the fourth
game to fall back to 2-2. Hsu and Webley-Smith stung another decisive break point in the eighth game and served out of the first set at 6-3.
Losing the opening set ignited the rage mode within Akita and Rottmann and they came out firing at their opponents. The Japanese-Austrian duo struck two successive serve breaks to lead 5-0 and then went on to seal the second set
at 6-2, enforcing a decisive super tie-breaker round into play.
The decider also went to the wire and a total of 20 games were played in it. Akita and Rottmann kept their focus in the match and finally concluded a hard-fought victory at 11-9 to move into the quarter-final round of the PTT Pattaya
Open.
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