Alexandra Cadantu dodges Alize Cornet to reach the quarter-finals – XXV Italiacom Open 2012
World number 85, Alexandra Cadantu, pulled up an upset in the second round clash of the XXV Italiacom Open on the eve of Wednesday. She sent packing the seventh seed Frenchwoman, Alize Cornet, to reach the quarter-final stage of
the tournament. However, it was not an easy contestant and took three hours and 17 minutes for the Romanian 22-year-old to win the match 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.
A calm start to the match with a couple of serve holds was followed up by a series of breakthroughs that witnessed the inferior ranked Romanian winning three out of five breakpoints on the clay courts of Palermo. She held her serve
in the eighth game to push ahead with a lead and broke serve for the fourth time in a row to win the opening set.
There was no change of luck for the seventh seed Frenchwoman in the starting phase of the second set as well. She failed to hold on to her first serve game and went down to a trail of 0-3. However, she didn’t lose heart and continued
to test her rival with her trickery and guile.
Finally, her efforts were awarded in the seventh game when she broke serve to diminish the trail. She was rigorously tested in the following game that proved to be the longest game of the match. However, she hung on and levelled
the scores at 4-4.
Once again, the 22-year-old French was targeted with an onslaught from her rival but she dodged the arrows fired at her and saved up another serve hold. Frustration started to build in for Cadantu and she lost a breakpoint in the
11th game of the set that proved pivotal. A tight serve hold for Cornet helped her to keep her chances alive and enforce the final set play.
A swap of breakpoints at the start was followed up with a serve hold from the Romanian booming starlet who continued to bash her opponent; winning another breakpoint in the fourth game. She held her serve to post a resounding lead
of 4-1.
Cornet was left with meagre stamina and she couldn’t find energy to cruise her way back into the match. She only managed to extract two games from the final set before dropping another serve game that proved to be the last action
of the match.
Alexandra Cadantu will face a tough quarter-final clash with the top seed Italian, Sara Errani.
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