Alexandra Dulgheru wins against Laura Pous-Tio to make it to the third round – French Open 2011
Twenty seventh seed Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania secured an easy victory over Spaniard Laura Pous-Tio 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday to book herself a place in the third round at the 2011 French Open in Paris. Dulgheru looked in great
form in her second round match at the Grand Slam tournament and took only one hour and 37 minutes dispatching her opponent.
Ranked 35th in the world, Dulgheru looked to attack right from the start of the match. With her incredible game play she was able to get the better of her opponent at crucial situations during the contest. Both players
struggled to hold to their serve game early in the opening set.
Dulgheru recorded her second serve break in fifth game of the set to take a reasonable game score lead. From there on, she completely dominated the challenger in almost all areas of the game. Despite her low first serve conversion
she was able to clinch most of the points on her serves in the set.
Feeling the pressure, Pous-tio committed a number of unforced errors during the set that allowed Dulgheru to dictate terms. The Romanian, on the other hand, kept her cool and sent breath taking shots all over the court.
The second set also followed a similar pattern with both women breaking the serve at regular intervals. Dulgheru concentrated on her own game play and broke her opponents serve four times as compared to three serve breaks achieved
by the challengers as she successfully completed her straight sets victory.
With an impressive 68 per cent first serve conversion the Romanian was able to force her opponent to adopt a defensive strategy. She was brave enough to come close to the net and take 12 crucial net points. Asserting her dominance
in the serve return department, Dulgheru managed to secure 57 per cent of the point on the receiving end as well.
Pous-Tio failed to convert the chances that came her way and managed to win only four out of eight break points in the match. Her weak second serve did not help the cause either as she let Dulgheru take control of the rallies.
Having a decent record on the clay surface, Pous-Tio was very disappointed with her effort.
Dulgheru has been in poor form since the start of this season. She has struggled to find her peak throughout the year 2011 and experienced several early round losses at the Women’s Tennis Association tour. Her most significant
performance was recorded at 2011 Marbella where she fell to Errani in the quarterfinal. Apart from that it has been a disappointing story for the 21-year-old. She will be looking to restore some of the lost pride with a solid run here in Paris.
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