Bethanie Mattek-Sands stains past Jill Craybas to move into the main rounds – Open GDF Suez 2012
In an all-American contest, 26-years-old Bethanie Mattek-Sands strained past the 37-years-old Jill Craybas, in the final qualifying round of the Open GDF Suez. On Monday, both players locked horns for the third time in their professional
careers. Mattek-Sands was tested to limits by Craybas in an epic three-set battle before she booked a berth in the main round of the contest with final scores of 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-4.
Craybas went face-to-face against Sands in Bausch & Lomb Championship way back in 2001. At that time she was young and had more stamina with superior game play. She bounced back a set down to oust her opponent in that match. The
second encounter between the two contenders was scheduled to be played in August 2006 during the Pilot Pen Tennis but it got cancelled. So, technically the head-to-head scores are levelled after this match but Craybas had the numeric head-to-head lead of 2-1
to date.
Mattek-Sands started off brilliantly by bagging the first five games that included a couple of breakthroughs, courtesy some poor shot selection from her opponent. She capitalized well on all the unforced errors and played with
great composure, which doubled the frustration of her opponent. She spared just a single game for her opponent making it absolutely difficult for her to accommodate a respectful defeat at that stage.
Craybas was well experienced and knew all traits of fighting back into the contest. She started off the second set with a successful serve game and broke her opponent’s serve in the fourth game to take the lead. Mattek-Sands fought
back and broke serve in the seventh game; coupled it with a successful serve game to level the scores at 4-4. Both players traded breakpoints in the following two games that nullified any advantage to either of them. Tie-breaker round was enforced and the
veteran American utilized her guile and experience to sneak ahead of her opponent; set scores were tied at one apiece.
Final set was contested with immense concentration. Vigilant start witnessed both players hanging on to their serves. Craybas was under the cosh and tested rigorously but she stayed calm and saved couple of breakpoints to successfully
hold her serve. Mattek-Sands kept on knocking at the door and capitalized on her serves; scores progressed to 5-4 in favour of her with her opponent to serve the following game. Craybas committed crucial double-fault and unfortunately that was coupled with
a fantastic return from her opponent that was unplayable. Sands broke serve and won the contest.
She plays the German participant, Kristina Barrois, in the opening round.
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