Annika Beck drenches Richel Hogenkamp in winners to reach the main round – Swedish Open 2012
World number 142, Annika Beck, scuttled past the 20-year-old Dutch, Richel Hogenkamp, in the final qualifying clash of the Sony Swedish Open on the eve of Monday.
She registered thumping straight sets 6-2, 6-2 scores to give a strong message for her upcoming rival. She is just 18-year-old but her skill level is far better than her age-fellows. She single-handily dominated the encounter.
The total time elapsed for the contest was just 63 minutes. Beck was the fifth seed contestant in the qualifying draws and expected to defeat the 189th ranked Dutch but no one thought that she would actually beat her with such a great margin.
It all started from the start as the German teen took an early lead with a successful breakthrough in the opening game. The Dutch shook her opponent a bit in the following game but the 18-year-old German did extremely well to deny her opponent from winning the break back and instead took a lead of 2-0.
Hogenkamp held her serve in the next game and both players traded breakthroughs in the following games to further move the scorecard at 3-2. Beck held her serve with ease and consolidated her position in the set.
The Dutch contestant looked a bit weak with her backhand return and Beck continued to capitalize on that shortcoming; forcing her opponent to play bulk of the shots on her weaker side that gifted another breakpoint to the German who took an unassailable lead of 5-2.
A serve hold to love for the German ended the first set. Trailing one set down, the 20-year-old Dutch looked a bit tensed and frustrated by her performance especially the lack of control on her backhand returns.
The second set witnessed a flurry of breakpoints right from the word go. Five breakthroughs were exchanged in the ratio of 3:2 in favour of Beck.
The German teen was the first to break the shackles and hold serve but not before her opponent had squandered an opportunity for the sixth breakthrough of the set.
Hogenkamp continued to struggle with her serves and presented another breakthrough to her rival that proved to be suicidal. Beck served for the match in the following game and took the match with no pressure at all.
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