Daniela Hantuchova dodges upset against Polona Hercog in round one – Dubai Championships 2012
Slovak beauty queen, Daniela Hantuchova, levelled the head-to-head scores with the Slovenian contestant, Polona Hercog, with a win in the opening round of the Dubai Duty Free Championships on Tuesday. The match was played on hard
courts with Hantuchova bouncing back after a dismal performance in the first set to oust her opponent 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(4) in two hours and 31 minutes.
The 21st ranked Slovak had lost the previous battle against Hercog in the China Open 2012. It was a gruelling three-setter as well but this one was a much competitive battle with the deserving contestant taking the final
glory.
Hantuchova committed a double-fault to start the proceedings in a gloomy manner. Hercog didn’t take much time in ousting her opponent; breaking Hantuchova’s serve in the third game and taking a massive lead of 3-1 in quick succession.
There was no coming back for the Slovak who looked pathetic with her forehand as well as backhand returns. Nothing was going right for her in the opening set and her serve was broken three times in succession, with her opponent
gobbling up the opening set in the easiest of fashions.
The second set was more entertaining, since both contestants met blow-by-blow to keep the score board ticking. It started off slowly but became interesting at the scores of 3-3. Both players grinded their bodies and swapped breakpoints
in the following two games with scores progressing to 4-4. With not much drama on court, scores further pushed to 5-5.
Hercog was serving the following game and she faulted miserably to let her opponent plonk her to take another breakpoint at the most critical stage of the set. The Slovak held her serve to enforce the third set into play.
The final set commenced with a breakthrough at either ends. Hercog was the first to hold her serve and follow it with another cracking breakthrough to smash her opponent down 3-1. Hantuchova fought back immediately with a breakthrough
to level the scores at 3-3.
Both players continued the see-saw battle and the tie-breaker was enforced to decide the match. The Slovak held her nerve and captured an early mini-break to power down her opponent and book date with the Chinese contestant, Shuai
Peng, in round two.
Another participant, Simona Halep, also won her encounter against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. In a post-match interview she said, “"The victory against Hantuchova last week was important. After that match I believed a lot more in
myself and now I'm playing better and better every day. My tactic today was to hit away from her body and not very flat because she blocks very well. I tried that today and I did it."
Halep faces Caroline Wozniacki in the next round.
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