Dia Evtimova rallies past Janina Toljan in qualifiers – Nurnberger Gastein Ladies 2012
Qualifying top seed, Dia Evtimova, outshined the local wildcard entrant, Janina Toljan, in a three-set thriller at the Nurnberger Gastein Ladies 2012 on Sunday. She summed up a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory against the world number 754 to advance into the final qualifying round at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association of Tennis Professionals) International event held in Bad Gastein, Austria.
The Bulgarian starlet stayed focused throughout the match and eventually sealed the deal in two hours and 40 minutes. The contestants last met each other at the Trnava WTA event in Slovakia and after earning this success, Evtimova maintained her winning record against the Austrian.
Evtimova made quick in-roads at this red clay court tournament and after displaying tremendous skills, she pulled out the opener with a 6-4 score line. The Bulgarian suffered the first blow in the fourth game but went on a four-game rampage to take the upper hand. She brilliantly warded off five out of six breakpoints she faced and capitalised on two out of three break chances to dominate.
The 22-year-old on the other end rebounded in the follow-up set. She carried her losing ways and suffered the initial blow in the opening game. Apart from recovering in the very next game, Toljan lost her serve again and went 1-3 down. However, she stayed in contention and not only recovered in the sixth game but capitalised on another break chance in the last game, subsequently sealing the equaliser by winning six games to four.
Ranked 158th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Evtimova sought her rhythm again in the final set which saw several exchange of serve breaks. She exchanged three serve breaks in the opening six games and then wiped out the last three games to click the decider with a 6-3 win.
Overall, the 25-year-old took full advantage of the 11 double faults her opponent spilled. She also clobbered a better first serve share of 78 per cent as opposed to the local starlet’s 52 per cent and marked 47 out of 84 points on it.
Next up for the Bulgarian is Croatia’s Ani Mijacika who stunned the sixth seed, Maria Elena Camerin, in straight sets to set up this meeting.
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