Catalina Castano dumps Sesil Karatantcheva to progress into round 2 - XX Copa BBVA Colsanitas 2012
Colombian wildcard entrant, Catalina Castano, strained past the Kazakh qualifier, Sesil Karatantcheva, to book a berth in the second round of XX Copa BBVA Colsanitas tournament. On Tuesday, both players went face-to-face
at the clay courts of Bogota, Colombia. The local veteran gobbled up the win in three-sets; settling the scores at 5-7, 6-0, 6-3.
It was an exciting battle between the two contestants. Although, the 245th ranked Colombian veteran had the advantage of home soil and local support, the disparity between the rankings supported the
Kazakh qualifier. The stage was set for an epic battle and it turned out to be a close encounter.
Both players started the match with successful serve games. Castano looked under pressure at the start but she settled in quickly before any major damage. A trade of breakpoints inserted some flare to the match. Scores were
levelled at 3-3 before the flurry of breakthroughs came from both ends. Five breakpoints were played in succession at either ends and luckily for the Kazakh, she led the breakpoints ratio with 4:3 in the opening set that sealed the win for her.
Unfortunately for the Colombian, she was losing crowd support and needed to turn the tables on her opponent to win back hearts of the spectators. She came out with an all-round onslaught. In no time she scampered past her
opponent with the hat-trick of breakpoints and never faulted once on her serves to bag a comprehensive bagel to her name. Everyone in the arena was left stunned at such a majestic comeback from her veteran tennis ace after she dropped the opening set.
A stage was set for an epic third set battle with Kazakh ready to face another onslaught from her opponent. Karatantcheva started the final set in emphatic fashion winning the initial two games and exerting monumental pressure
on her opponent. The Colombian didn’t panic and utilized her experience to oust her opponent in the following two games; bagging a vital breakthrough and holding on to her serve to level the scores at 2-2.
The momentum shifted towards the local competitor who bagged another breakthrough and registered the lead of 4-2. The Kazakh’s serve was broken again in the seventh game but she stayed in the contest with a successful breakpoint
in the following game. She served to stay in the match but pressure dismantled her concentration; lost the game and the match as well.
Castano faces-off the Italian participant, Karin Knapp, in the second round.
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