Alize Cornet beats Olga Govortsova to reach the last eight - Guangzhou Int’l Women's Open 2012
World number 48, Alize Cornet, won the opening set against the 54th ranked Belarusian star, Olga Govortsova, in the second round of the GRC Bank Guangzhou International Women's Open on the morning of Wednesday. She grabbed
the opening set 6-4 and her opponent retired from the contest after hurting herself during the final game of the first set.
Both players just played for 54 minutes at the hard courts of China before the 24-year-old allotted a walkover to her rival after failing to stay fit for the rest of the encounter. In the past, these players had played two battles
and won one apiece.
The first encounter was played in the final qualifier of the Wimbledon Championship in 2007 which was inched ahead by the Belarusian star. However, the second encounter was played earlier this year during the first round at Strasbourg
and Cornet equalized the head-to-head scores with a gruelling three-setter conquest.
The eighth seed Cornet started the match in a pathetic fashion; just managed to squeeze one point on her opening serve after squandering an opportunity to break serve earlier in the first game. She was trailing 0-2 at that stage
and it looked like the 24-year-old Belarusian will cruise away to set lead in short period of time.
However, the tables were turned upon the 56th ranked Belarusian who couldn’t hold serve in the third game of the match and failed to grab a single point in the subsequent return game that tied the scores at 2-2. Both
players held their serves to push the scores at 3-3.
Govortsova faltered on her serve; committed a double-fault at the most critical situation of the game and gifted the breakpoint to her rival. She was trailing 3-4 at that stage and the comfortable game for the Frenchwoman extended
the lead to 5-3.
No drama was witnessed in the following two games except the deteriorating stamina of the Belarusian player who seemed a bit dehydrated in the hot condition at the court. She apologized from the fans and withdrew from the contest
giving an easy route to the Frenchwoman into the last eight where Cornet will face-off against the third seed Sorana Cirstea.
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