Anabel Medina Garrigues outclasses Laura Robson to qualify for round two – Swedish Open 2012
Experienced Spanish star, Anabel Medina Garrigues, trounced on the 18-year-old Briton booming starlet, Laura Robson, to reach the second round of the Sony Ericsson Swedish Open. On the eve of Tuesday, both players locked horns
and delighted the crowd with the proximity of play that lasted an hour and 41 minutes. However, the 91st ranked Briton bowed out in straight sets 4-6, 6(4)-7.
The match kicked off in Great Spirit with both players meeting blow-by-blow to each other. A serve hold for the British teen was followed up with an exchange of breakthroughs that moved the scoreboard to 2-1 in favour of the left-handed
Robson. However, a serve hold for the Spanish third seed star levelled the scores at 2-2.
Another swap of breakthroughs pushed the scores to 4-4 but the final breakpoint fell in favour of the Spanish star in the ninth game when Robson committed a silly double-fault in the most crucial stages. The inexperience of the
Briton was clearly visible and her rival was capitalizing on that; prolonging the rallies and forcing the 18-year-old contestant to commit silly mistakes.
Garrigues bagged the final serve game after a bit of resistance from her rival and that proved to be the final action from the first set of the match.
Robson was broken to love in the opening game of the second set. However, she didn’t lose hear and continued to come back hard at her opponent; forcing her to drop a breakpoint in the sixth game that levelled the scores at 3-3.
Once again the British teen was under the cosh in the 10th game of the match; trailing a breakthrough down because she gifted an easy lead to her rival in the ninth game. However, she stayed focused and powered down
her rival in a ‘do or die’ game to win a breakthrough back. She kept her chances alive with another serve hold that enforced a tie-breaker round into play.
Garrigues takes on the winner of the match between Olga Govortsova and Johanna Larsson. It will be a thrilling battle regardless of whoever qualifies for the second round match with the Spaniard.
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