Anabel Medina Garrigues eases past Monica Niculescu to reach the final at 2011 Estoril Open
Ranked 61 in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings, Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain overwhelmed Romanian Monica Niculescu 6-1, 6-3 on Friday to reach the finals of 2011 Estoril Open in Portugal.
Garrigues made a bright start to the match as she broke the serve in the very first game of the opening set. The Spaniard executed her forehand and backhand shots to perfection and made the challenger run for her money with her
extremely aggressive approach. She broke the serve twice more to pocket the opener quite comfortably.
Niculescu, who looked completely out of sorts in the first set, regrouped herself and displayed a lot better tennis in the following set. She made some good moves on the court and made a serve break as well. However nerveless Garrigues
continued to play her natural game freely and broke back with a double serve break to end the contest after only 1 hour and 29 minutes of play.
"Monica is a player you don't beat very comfortably. Your legs have to be ready to get to every kind of shot," Medina Garrigues said. "Today was harder than it looked. The second set, especially. I'm happy to have finished it in
two sets."
Medina Garrigues will be playing in her 16th WTA final, going 9-6 in her previous 15 finals. Eight of her nine career titles have come on clay; her last title came two years ago at Fes in 2009. "I didn't have such a good year last
year, losing a lot of first rounds, so to be in a final again makes me very happy.”
Medina Garrigues said of Barrois, "She's going to be a very difficult player because she's very talented. If she's in the final it's because she's playing well."
In the final Garrigues will take on German tennis-pro Kristina Barrois who made quick work of Swede Johanna Larsson 7-6 (2), 6-4 to book a final spot at the WTA tournament. Barrois also upset top seeded Alisa Kleybanova of Russia
6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinal clash.
The two finalists are very evenly matched and an exciting encounter is expected. However Garrigues who certainly has more international experience under her belt will back herself to lift tenth WTA title of her career.
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