Alize Cornet dumps Arantxa Parra Santonja in the opening qualifier – BNP Paribas Open 2012
Qualifying rounds of the BNP Paribas Open went underway on Monday and the 22-year-old Frenchwoman, Alize Cornet disposed of the Spanish veteran, Arantxa Parra Santonja, in the opening round. A stiff battle was fought between the two competitors but Cornet eventually go the better of her opponent in three sets, 5-7, 6-0, 6-2, to move a step closer to the main draw of the tournament.
Being a part of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier-level swing, the contest was played on the hard courts of Indian Wells, California. It was the second time these two competitors faced each other on a tennis court; the earlier matchup being won by Cornet in 2010 at Fes, Morocco. Cornet’s victory on Monday pushed her a step closer to the main rounds of the BNP Paribas Open and gives her a 2-0 lead over Santonja in the all-time head-to-head series.
It was a see-saw battle, with Santonja dominating the opening set and then falling out to the domination of the French competitor. Cornet dropped the opening set after a stiff contest but made a ballistic comeback in the following two sets to blow away her opponent in style. She lost merely two games in the last two sets of the match to finish on an assertive note.
Although Cornet coughed nine double faults, she clinched 42 out of 62 first serve points and nailed 7 out of 19 break points to root out her opponent in the end. A nail-biting opening set was witnessed, with a total of five break points being exchanged between the contestants. Santonja was leading 6-5 and Cornet needed to hold her serve to impose a tie breaker but a cracking break of serve in the 12th game left her stunned at 5-7.
The French came out firing in the following set, going on a 10-game rampage to sting five successive serve breaks in the match. She registered a bagel in the second set raced away to 4-0 in the decisive one to hold a significant lead in the matchup. Cornet served out of the final set at 6-2 to register an emphatic victory and moving into the second round qualifier of the tournament.
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