Elena Baltacha beat Roberta Vinci in the opening round of the BNP Paribas Open
World number 74 Elena Baltacha had an assertive victory against Roberta Vinci of Italy in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California on Thursday night. The Briton bounced back in the contest after being one set down to finish it
off at 2-6, 7-5 and 6-2, in two hours and seven minutes.
Baltacha didn’t have the start she would have desired and was soon straining under immense pressure from her opponent. Her Italian competitor was off to a flyer, breaking serve early and providing minimum opportunities to the Briton.
It was an overall low serve game, with the two contestants serving at about 50 percent mark. Vinci had a great start to the game and it looked as if the Italian will ease pass the contest, but it happened the other way. She failed to carry on her initial
momentum in the later sets and crumbled under the match pressure.
Vinci rarely faced a challenge from her rival in the opener and got in the lead immediately after breaking serve at 3-2. The Italian amazingly won 92 percent of the first serve points and faced no break point from the Briton. Her return game was ordinary
but was still good enough to outplay the British.
Baltacha merely held her serve twice in the first set and was broken at two occasions before surrendering the set. Her ability to bag points on regularity led her down as she collected just 41 percent points in the opener before the Italian sealed it at
6-2.
The following set was also a hard-fought one for Baltacha, as she was broken early to trail 2-3. A couple of double faults from Vinci gave her the opportunity to bounce back in the game with a serve break. The Briton leveled the scores at 5-5 and crafted
another opportunity to hit a break point in the next game. A forehand from Vinci went wide and concluded the second set to Baltacha’s name at 7-5, enforcing a third.
The Briton shifted her gears in the decider and reeled off three games to lead 3-1 after breaking the opponent’s serve. Vinci replied with a break point, only to be broken in the very next game to trail 2-4. Baltacha looked far more aggressive in the third
set and played some elegant cross-court winners to exert pressure on the 28-year-old Italian.
Vinci eventually submitted the decisive set to her opponent at 6-2, when she was broken for the third time in the set. Baltacha bagged 32 of the total 55 points played in the set to book a berth in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open.
Baltacha will square off against the other 13th seed Italian, Flavia Pennetta in the next round. Pennetta went to the second round through a bye.
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