Angelique Kerber overcomes Monica Niculescu in the round of 16 – Open GDF Suez 2012
Angelique Kerber of Germany succeeded in handling the pressure at crunch situations and fought back after losing the second set to rally past Monica Niculescu of Romania in three sets 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in the second round at
the Open GDF Suez in Paris, France on Thursday. The German took an hour and 53 minutes to overpower Niculescu.
Kerber hit the initial blow, breaking Niculescu in the third game of the opening set to take a 2-1 lead. The German could not consolidate on the break of serve and lost her serve in the next game to level the scores at 2-2.
Both players held their serve in the next couple of games to take the score to 3-3. There was no stoppage for Kerber after that, as she captured three consecutive games, breaking Niculescu in the seventh and ninth game to seal the set 6-3.
Niculescu and Kerber held their serve in the first three games of the second set to take the score to 2-1 in favour of the latter. In the fourth game, Niculescu surrendered her serve on the third break point to go down 1-3.
But, the Romanian came back in style, breaking Kerber in the next game without losing a single point and reducing the lead to 2-3. Niculescu broke her opponent again in the ninth game and easily served out the set in the next game, claiming it 6-4.
After getting stunned by her lower ranked opponent in the second set, Kerber made a remarkable start to the third set and dropped just three points in the first two games. The German broke Niculescu in the second game, bagging
a 2-0 lead. Kerber carried on the momentum and broke the Romanian again in the fourth game to go ahead 4-0. However, a little lapse of concentration resulted in her own serve getting broke in the fifth game, taking the score to 4-1. There was no drama after
that, as both players held their serve throughout the rest of the set, with Kerber serving out the set in the ninth game and capturing it 6-3.
Ranked 27th in the world, Kerber did not perform too well with her serve. The left-hander committed four double faults and delivered just 58 percent of the first serves in the entire match. However,
the Romanian did well with her returns, sealing 27 percent of the first return points and 53 percent of the second return points.
Kerber will take on the top seed Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals.
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