Anna Tatishvili downs Petra Martic into the quarter-finals – Bell Challenge 2012
World number 52, Anna Tatishvili of Georgia, came through limited resistance in beating the seventh seed, Petra Martic of Croatia, in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the Bell Challenge in Quebec City, Canada on
Thursday.
The player from Georgia required an hour and 18 minutes to complete this victory.
There were a lot of breaks of serve in the first set, as both players failed to find the rhythm at the start of the contest. Tatishvili and Martic failed to hold it in the first three games, taking the score to 2-1 in favour of
the former. The Georgian finally succeeded in winning her serve in the fourth and then struck again in the following one to gain a 4-1 lead. Martic was double break down at that moment but she pulled one back in the fifth game and reduced the trail to 2-4.
However, she lost two back to back later on to go down 2-6.
Tatishvili banged in a couple of aces but she committed three double faults at the same time. The Georgian contestant maintained a decent first serve percentage of 71 out managed to win 11 of the 20 points on them. The 5ft 7in
tall could not do well on the second ones, as she lost five of the eight points on them but balanced that by capturing 12 of the 15 on the second ones in the opener.
In a similar fashion to the first set, Tatishvili clinched a breakthrough in the opening game of the second one and this time she also consolidated on it to move ahead 2-0. Serving to stay in contention at 3-5, Martic lost it again
and threw away the second set 3-6.
Talking to the reporters after the match, Tatishvili said, "I stayed focused throughout the whole match. Consistency made the difference today. I was more patient from the baseline. She was serving very well, so I was trying to
get the returns back as much as I could. And in the rallies my goal was to not rush the point. I fought every point."
The Georgian added, "The US Open was great for me - I enjoyed it a lot. I beat some very good players there and then of course played Vika, No.1 in the world, which was good experience for me to play against someone at the very
highest level in the sport."
Tatishvili is slated to meet Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium in the quarter-finals.
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