Ayumi Morita upsets Marina Erakovic in opening round – Internationaux de Strasbourg 2012
Japanese ace, Ayumi Morita, stuns the sixth seed, Marina Erakovic from New Zealand, with a breadstick at the Internationaux de Strasbourg 2012 on Tuesday. She joggled up a 6-1, 6-3 victory against the top Kiwi to charge into the pre-quarters at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) clay court event held in Strasbourg, France.
Morita displayed tremendous tennis to outclass the Croatian-born Erakovic in straight sets in their fifth meeting. The contestants previously met each other at the Tokyo WTA event four years ago and after earning this 76-minute battle, the Japanese improved to a 5-0 lifetime in the head-to-head series against Erakovic.
The 22-year-old high-spiritedly stepped at this International-level tournament and easily plucked her opening serve. Morita lost her serve once but unleashed her true colours. She broke Erakovic’s entire serves and eventually pulled out the opener with a breadstick.
Ranked 88th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Morita kept momentum sailing into the follow-up set and swiftly swiped in her entire serves without facing any obstacle. She capitalised on one out of two break chances and clinched the set with a 6-3 score line.
Summing up the underdog’s performance, Morita nudged up a better first serve share of 55 per cent as compared to the Kiwi’s 44 per cent and amazingly clicked 19 out of 27 points on it. She also formulated seven break chances and finished the match with 63 points.
Morita will square-off against the local wildcard entrant, Virginie Razzano, who bounced back to outclass the Spanish lucky loser, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, in three sets. The French challenger lost her serve six times but capitalised on six out of 13 break chances to manipulate a 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 success in two hours and 15 minutes.
The second seed, Francesca Schiavone, also stole the show later that day. She snapped out from a three match losing streak after devastating the Romanian star, Alexandra Cadantu, with a breadstick. The clay specialist was broken once but cashed in half of the 12 break opportunities to manipulate a 6-1, 6-2 score line in 70 minutes. She clobbered a poor first serve share of 53 per cent in contrast with the Romanian’s 70 per cent but impressively availed 15 out of 21 points on it. Schiavone dominated throughout the match and sealed it with 58 points.
Next up for the Italian number one is the Croatian qualifier, Mirjana Lucic, who bounced back to outmuscle Britain’s Anne Keothavong in a three-set nail-biter.
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