Craybas/Zahlavova Strycova edge past Coin/Parmentier into the semi-finals – Open GDF Suez 2012
Jill Craybas of USA and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of Czech Republic fought back after losing the first set to oust the duo of Julie Coin and Pauline Parmentier of France, 2-6, 7-5, 10-7, in the quarterfinals at the Open GDF Suez
in Paris on Thursday. The American-Czech team took an hour and 24 minutes to beat their opponents in a gruelling battle.
Coin and Parmentier drew the first blood as they broke the American-Czech pair in the third game and won their next service game to bag a 3-1 lead. The French pair did not stop and broke Craybas and Strycova again in the fifth
game, holding their serve in the sixth game to go ahead 5-1. Craybas and Strycova avoided some embarrassment by winning another game but they could not go any further, losing the set 2-6.
Coin and Parmentier kept their first serve percentage at 71, winning 12 of the 15 points on them in the open. The French also grabbed four of the six second service points. The unseeded team saved the only break point they came
across and converted two of the three serve breaks they received in the opening set.
Coin and Parmentier were looking to seal the match quickly as they broke Craybas and Strycova in the third game and capitalised on it to take a 3-1 lead. However, the American-Czech tandem bounced back, breaking Coin and Parmentier
in the eight game to square off the score at 4-4. Craybas and Strycova broke their opponents once again in the 12th game and won the set 7-5.
The American/Czech combination served quite well, as they hit 76 percent of the first deliveries and converted 19 of the 29 of them into points in the second set. In comparison, Coin and Parmentier did not serve well as they delivered
just 47 percent of the first serves, claiming seven of the 15 points on them. However, the French team had a better second serve performance as they sealed 65 percent of the second service points compared to just 44 percent by their opponents.
The match went into a super tie-breaker round. Craybas and Strycova hit the first blow by earning a mini-break to take a 5-3 lead. Coin and Parmentier fought back to equalise the score at 7-7. However, this was not enough, as Craybas
and Strycova did not lose any point after that and won the match tie-break 10-7.
Craybas and Strycova will face either German-Croatian team of Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Petra Martic or Ukrainian pair of Lyudmyla Kichenok and Nadiya Kichenok in the semi-finals.
Tags: