Aravane Rezai loses to Polona Hercog in the second round – Collector Swedish Open 2011
If it was not for a first set lapse, one could make the case that Polona Hercog thoroughly whipped Aravane Rezai. But the first set lapse is not the main story. What matters is the end result 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) that was a convincing win for Hercog over the defending champion in the second round match of the Collector Swedish Open 2011.
Rezai won the first set, taking more than three-quarters of an hour, but then found herself in heaps of trouble as the 53rd-ranked Hercog played out of her depth in challenging the world number one by taking the second and third.
Apart from the first set, Hercog came out in an attacking mindset and it showed as the Slovenian No.1 was cracking her serve and smacking forehands and backhands like her fans never saw in years against Rezai.
Hercog made Rezai look ordinary during the second round ambush. Rezai, though, was not ready to concede. Rezai would promptly bounce back in the fourth game of the second set and grabbed a break advantage as Hercog seemingly took her foot off the gas. Points started going longer, Rezai began finding the range and Hercog’s incredible form was suddenly grounded, allowing Rezai to take a 4-2 lead. However, the sweet thing did not last long and Hercog made a devastating use of her angled strokes to clinch the second set with six games to four.
However, the Frenchwoman was not about to go down with fight and made a quick recovery from 5-3 down in the third set, breaking Hercog as the Slovenian served for the win and eventually forcing the first tiebreak of the afternoon.
Rezai got to level-pegging at 5-5 in the third set, and then was unable to convert on her pair of match points thanks to Hercog's defensive effort. When the Slovenian had her chances, she converted the timely and polished her head-to-head record to 1-2 against Rezai.
Hercog concluded her straight sets effort with a whopping 57 percent of points on her service, 43 percent of points on return and 50 percent of points in total during the match.
Emerging victorious, Hercog has improved her year-to-date win/loss mark to 16/17 matches and now marches on into the quarterfinals of the tournament where she will face Vesna Dolonts of Russia for the first time in her career.
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