Chang/Govortsova dump Garcia/Khromacheva to reach semis – OEC Ladies Open 2012
Taiwanese-Belarusian collaboration, Kai-Chen Chang and Olga Govortsova, made an epic comeback to triumph over the French-Russian pair, Caroline Garcia and Irina Khromacheva, in a three-set thriller at the OEC Taipei WTA Ladies Open 2012 on Friday. They penned
down a 6-7(5), 6-3, 10-5 victory against their opponents to power into the final four at the Taipei Arena in Taiwan.
Seeded second in this event, Chang and Govortsova, made a sloppy entry at this maiden WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) 125 event taking place in Chinese Taipei. They dominated in one hour and 28-minute venture to steal the spotlight and secure a place in
the semi-finals at this event.
The French-Russian tandem made a convincing entry at this indoor carpet tournament. They superbly warded off all four breakpoints they came across and held their entire serves. Garcia and Khromacheva failed to seek any break opportunity but dominated in
the tie-breaker, eventually sealing the opener with a 7-6(5) win.
Chang and Govortsova rebounded in the following set. They dropped their serve once but remained focused throughout the set. The Taiwanese-Belarusian pair broke their opponents’ serve twice and subsequently bagged the equaliser with a 6-3 success. They fended
off one out of two breakpoints they came across and converted two out of six break chances to their advantage.
The match could have gone in any direction but the seeds’ kept momentum rolling in the final set or the super tie-breaker. They unleashed their true skills in it and eventually clicked the decider with a 10-5 score line.
All in all, Chang and Govortsova coughed fewer unforced errors but clobbered an equal first serve share of 75 per cent. They also brilliantly marked 39 out of 50 points on it and struck two aces to prevail. The in-form duo finished the match with 78 points
in contrast with their opponents’ 60 points.
Next in line for Chang and Govortsova are the third seeds, Taiwan’s Chin-Wei Chan and Japan’s Kimiko Date-Krumm. The collaboration of Chan and Date-Krumm dumped the local wild card entrants, Chin-Wen Hsu and Ya-Hsuan Lee, in straight sets in just under an
hour to set up this outing.
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