Angelique Kerber battles past Stephanie Foretz Gacon in round one – e-Boks Open 2012
Seeded at number two in the tournament draw, Angelique Kerber of Germany had to go through a rough ride before taking down the 30-year-old unseeded French opponent, Stephanie Foretz Gacon, in the opening round of the e-Boks Open
on Tuesday. The contest lasted for two hours and 15 minutes, with the world number 15 coming out as victorious in the end. The final score line was 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, in Kerber’s favour.
It was a taxing battle for the 24-year-old German, who had to recover from a one-set deficit to turn the tables on her opponent. Gacon stamped her authority early in the matchup by bagging the opener in a dominating fashion but
couldn’t sustain her winning impetus in the following set. The second seed German came out firing in the second set to level the match scores at one-all but had to dig deep in the decisive set. A tie-breaker round was about to come into play when Kerber delivered
the final blow to wrap up victory in style, marching into the second round of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International Tour event in Copenhagen, Denmark.
"It was obviously a very difficult match, as you can see from the score line," Kerber said after registering a 2-0 lead in the head-to-head series against the French opponent. "I thought both of us played really well. I tried to
play my natural game, but in the first set she made it really tough for me to do that. However, I managed to get into the match more and play better as the match went on, and in the end I'm really happy I won and am through to the second round."
Kerber will face the unseeded Briton, Anne Keothavong, in the next matchup for a place in the quarter-final round of the e-Boks Open. Keothavong was successful against the Hungarian qualifier, Melinda Czink, in the opening round
clash, beating her in three sets, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, to reach the second round of the tournament. Top seed Caroline Wozniacki also cleared the opening round by defeating the unseeded Pole, Urszula Radwanska, in straight sets, 7-6(4), 6-2, on Tuesday.
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