Angelique Kerber defeats Kurumi Nara in opening round – HP Japan Open 2011
Third seeded Angelique Kerber defeated wildcard entrant Kurumi Nara in the opening round of the HP Japan Open 2011. The players battled it out for simply sixty seven minutes on outdoor hard courts of the Utsubo Tennis Center in
Osaka, Japan. Emerging victorious in straights sets of 6-2, 6-1 was third seeded German Kerber, who sent the wildcard entrant to the lockers on Tuesday the 11th of October 2011.
Nara had decided to serve first and she tried to defend her service game by battling two deuces but failed miserably and endorsed a game to her adversary, who had held her serve and taken a mini lead of 2-0. Nara made a return
in the third game and by the fourth had equalized the score at 2-2 as she too had capitalized on a break point.
During the fifth game Kerber once again broke Nara and as she held serve in the sixth game, she again took the lead at 4-2. In the last two games, Kerber repeated the feat to accomplish the opening set and in doing so, she was
now one up in the match.
Although, Nara had started off really well by equalizing the score in the fourth game, she then lost steam and was unable to match her opponent’s tempo and lost the opening set with only two games in hand.
Opening for the second set was again Nara and she again got off to an appalling start, gifting a game to her adversary, who had again taken a mini lead of 2-0 by the end of the second game. In the following two games the challengers
won on alternate service games and the scoreboard had shifted to 3-1. In the last three games, Kerber took a notch higher and by utilizing the break-serve-break technique, she secured a breadstick victory of the second set and the match.
Overall in the match Kerber had a geometric precision and had accomplished almost twice as many points as her adversary. She benefitted by capitalizing on six out of the eight breakpoint opportunities and was able to reserve a
place in the second round of the HP Japan Open 2011.
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