Anna Floris, Ahsha Rolle sail into final qualifying round of 2011 Internationaux de Strasbourg
Qualifying seventh seed Anna Floris of Italy stayed firm to overcome Portuguese Maria Joao Koehler 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 on Sunday to book a place in the final qualifying round of 2011 Internationaux de Strasbourg in France.
Floris made a bright start to the contest as she managed to clinch four straight points on her opponent’s serve to make the first serve break of the match. Koehler showed amazing fighting spirit to break Floris straight back as
she tied the game score 3-3. The Italian had another chance of making a serve break in eighth game of the set, which she converted comfortably to take a 5-3 lead in the set. She then held on to her next game to clinch the opening set 6-3.
In the second set, Koehler played with a lot more positive intent and executed her shots brilliantly. Her forehand and backhand shots were well timed and created all sorts of problems for the Italian. A break of serve in sixth
game of the set gave her a crucial 4-2 lead in the set. Koehler smashed a brilliant backhand winner on her serve to set up three two break point for her and then converted the third one to level the set score 1-1.
The final set was expected to be a closely contested one but Floris had other ideas as she broke serve three times in the set to ensure a place in final qualifying round of the Women’s Tennis Association tournament. The 29-year-old
used her vast international experience to great effect and smashed blazing forehands and ferocious backhands to down her opponent. She successfully claimed the very first match point to earn a hard fought victory after 1 hour and 39 minutes of play,
World number 166 Floris dominated her opponent in nearly all areas of the game. She achieved an impressive 68 percent first conversion and also secured 51 percent points on return. She will be hoping to continue her good form in
her next match-up against Anna-Lena Groenefeld who eased past Chinese Yi-Fan Xu.
Meanwhile American Ahsha Rolle destroyed Ana Clara Duarte of Brazil 6-2, 6-1 to reach the last round of the WTA qualification tournament.
Rolle converted most of the chances that came her way as she secured four out five break points in the match. Her opponent Duarte on the other hand looked a bit out of sorts and committed a number of unforced errors. She wasted
the break chances and allowed Rolle to dictate terms. The American tennis-pro, Rolle used her superior game play to make quick work of the challenger in a match that lasted for only 1 hour and 1 minute.
Rolle’s next match-up will be against number two seed Christina McHale who defeated Ukrainian Viktoriya Kutuzova 6-3, 7-6 (4). She will be eying consistency as she looks to lift her first WTA title.
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