Dia Evtimova knocks off Nikola Hofmanova to advance into QFs – NURNBERGER Gastein Ladies 2011
Bulgarian qualifier Dia Evtimova rallied past Local wild card entrant Nikola Hofmanova in a three set thriller at the NURNBERGER Gastein Ladies 2011, an International level WTA tournament held on the clay courts in Bad Gastein,
Austria. She bounced back to register a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over the 20-year-old Bulgarian to advance into the last eight on Thursday.
World number 239, Evtimova geared up well to overpower the wild card enterer, ranked seventy-eight places below her, in approximately two hours on their first meeting.
The Bulgarian youngster confidently entered the clay court and held her opening serve in the second game to square the scores at 1-1. After the Bulgarian held her third serve at 3-2, Hofmanova unleashed barrage of groundstrokes
to reel off next four games in a row and clinched the opener with a 6-3 score line. Although she committed more double faults and produced a lower first serve share of 74 percent as opposed to Evtimova’s 79 percent, the Austrian registered a superb 71 percent
win on it. In addition to this, she saved all three breakpoints saved and converted two out of three breakpoint opportunities to her advantage.
The local star kept momentum rolling into the second set and held her opening serve in the first game by pinging the balls expertly onto the lines. She then took the first blood in the fourth game to extend the lead by 3-1.
24-year-old Evtimova on the other hand roared back with a fitting reply in the proceeding games. She not only snatched her break back but made a four games winning streak. The Bulgarian then held on to her remaining serves to seal
the equaliser with a 6-4 win. She took full advantage of the three double faults and several unforced errors Hofmanova committed. The Bulgarian also produced a much better first serve share of 66 percent as compared to Austrian’s 42 percent and earned a convincing
58 percent win on it.
The qualifier kept momentum rolling into the final set and broke Hofmanova’s serve in the very first game to take the initial lead. Regardless of losing her serve in the following game, she broke the Austrian’s serve again in the
third game to put her nose in front again. Evtimova then held her serve till 4-2 after which she exchanged a break to keep her lead. In the end, she broke the Austrian’s serve for the third time to bag the decider with a 6-3 win.
She will next face the winner of the match between Croat Petra Martic and Austrian wild card enterer Patricia Mayr Achleitner.
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