Anastasia Rodionova overpowers Melinda Czink in the opening round – Family Circle Cup 2012
World number 98, Anastasia Rodionova of Australia, came back after the thrashing in the second set to beat world number 109, Melinda Czink of Hungary, 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 in the first round at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, USA
on Monday.
Rodionova and Czink struggled to hold their serve throughout the match, exchanging breaks on a number of occasions.
Both players struck once in the first four games of the opening set, squaring off the score at 2-2. Rodionova pocketed four in a row after that and sealed the opener 6-2.
The Australian and Czink hit a couple of double faults. Rodionova kept her first serve percentage at 68, converting 13 of the 15 of them into points. The Tambov, Russia born relied on her accurate returns to win most of the points,
bagging seven of the 13 first and eight of the 12 second reply points.
Czink and Rodionova held their serve in the first three games of the second set, taking the score to 2-1 in favour of the former. The Hungarian clinched four of the next five to close it 6-2.
The 29-year-old, Czink, hit a single ace and the same number of double fault. The Budapest, Hungary resident made the most of her strong first serve and second returns, as she captured 11 of the 15 and three of the four points
on them respectively.
After losing the second set pretty badly, Rodionova put her act together in the decider, making triple breakthrough to build a 5-0 lead. Czink made some effort and avoided a bagel set by winning the Australian’s serve in the sixth
but lost her serve again in the next game to drop the final set 1-6.
Rodionova delivered one ace and 72 percent of the first serves, winning nine of the 13 points on them. On the other hand, Czink performed terribly on the serve, putting in just 64 percent of the first deliveries and claiming a
mere seven of the 16 points on them. The situation was even worse on the second serve, as she committed four double faults and lost eight of the nine points on them.
The right hander, Rodionova, required an hour and 20 minutes to come out victorious from the match.
The Melbourne, Australia resident will face 10th seed, Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain, in the second round. Medina Garrigues overcame Melanie Oudin 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 in the opener.
Tags: