Ayumi Morita defeats Ana Ivanovic in the 1st round – Bank of the West Classic 2011
The 21-year-old, Ayumi Morita put down the 23-year-old, Ana Ivanovic, in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic 2011 at the Taube Family Tennis Center, Stanford University, California. The Japanese, Morita won the match in 1 hour, 19 minutes and 00 seconds 6-3, 7-5.
The last time both the players contested against each other was on a hard court in the first round of the FED Cup WEEK 1 - WORLD GROUP 2 in 2009. Ivanovic won the match with a 6-1, 6-2 victory and was leading the head to head 1-0. The Higher Power had bestowed a chance to Ayumi Morita to take her revenge in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic Tournament 2011.
Morita served with a shaky demeanour because she had previously lost the match against her rival, she struck three double faults (two hit the net while the other was a line fault). However, in the next couple of moments she regained her confidence and smashed five times during the set. Mean while her opponent smashed no aces and due to lack of precision struck two double faults.
Even though both the players were not able to save their break points and both were able to win a hundred percent of their break points, Morita had capitalized on two extra break points than her rival’s, which gave her an added advantage.
Although both the players had performed superbly on their first serves, Morita had won two percent more than her opponent. In addition, Morita’s exceptional defence gave her an edge over her opponent and she was able to recoil all the shots that were thrown at her. While on the other hand, Ivanovic’s return was unsatisfactory and she had bagged only forty one percent of her total return points.
Even though, both the players had neck and neck points in the game, Morita outmanoeuvred her opponent because of a very stable and solid defence.
Morita for the first time was a set up and did not want to give up now; she knew if she stuck it out, vengeance would be served, thus, serving first with extreme exactitude she was able to hit seventy three percent of all her first serve targets along with a springy back hand she “kangoo jumped” all shots directed towards her, winning fifty eight percent of her total return points.
Mean while, Ivanovic was also able to grab forty two percent of her total service points but could’ve attained more if she would not have lost points in her second serve. Additionally, a poor return serve lost her points along with lack of precision; she ended up striking six double faults. One wonders what she was thinking... I hope she didn’t think the net was her opponent!
The second set was a close contest between both the players. However, during the set both the players broke each other thrice in the first ten games to square off the score at 5-5. Morita broke Ivanovic in the eleventh game to take a 6-5 lead and served out the set in the next game, grabbing it 7-5.
This was it for Morita; she had finally tasted the sweetness of revenge and eventually tied their head-to-head score. The Japanese has now qualified to the second round with a 2-0 win.
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