Bibiane Schoofs ousts Ksenia Lykina in the opening qualifier – Tashkent Open 2012
World number 155, Bibiane Schoofs, clasped the victory after an epic three-setter against the 22-year-old Russian, Ksenia Lykina, in the first qualifier round of the Tashkent Open on Saturday. She won the opening set 6-4 but lost
the second phase 4-6. However, she bounced back well enough to clinch the decider 6-2.
Previously, the head-to-head scores between the two athletes were tied at 1-1. Lykina had won the battle in 2008 at Clermont Ferrand and the revenge mission was completed by her competitor three years later at Aschaffenburg. It
was the third meeting and the 24-year-old Dutch who is seeded third in the qualifier draw managed to secure a win and more importantly inched a step closer to the main round of the contest.
Both players met blow-by-blow to build up on a good start. There were several breakpoints squandered on the way but no damage was done to the either party until the scores were pushed to 5-4 in favour of the Dutch. The pressure
was on the 309th ranked Russian who failed to hold serve in the most crucial game of the set and lost the first battle.
Trailing a set down, Lykina started off pretty well with a breakpoint but couldn’t protect it with a serve hold. Another trade of breakpoints was witnessed at the hard courts of Tashkent and the scores stayed together at 2-2. However,
the crucial breakpoint for the 22-year-old Russian came in the fifth game when she managed to cover the breakthrough with a serve hold and take a lead of two games.
The lead was kept intact by Lykina until the end of the set. She was close on winning the second breakthrough in the seventh game but failed to do so and had to wait a bit longer to enforce the final set into play. It was anyone’s
game at that stage because both players were playing extremely well.
A swap of breakthrough was coupled with another scintillating break serve by the Dutch who clasped the third breakpoint of the set in the eighth game and rounded off the set in quick succession.
Bibiane Schoofs plays Vesna Dolonc in the next battle.
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