Elise Mertens rallies past Beatriz Haddad Maia in the Girls’ Singles first round – US Open 2012
Right-handed Belgian junior tennis professional, Elise Mertens, smashed Beatriz Haddad Maia in the first round of the US Open held at the hard courts of New York. Mertens gave a straight sets upset to her Brazilian rival,
6-0, 6-3.
16-year-old Maia was the first one to serve in the opening set but was unable to hold her the entire time. She exhibited a relatively weaker game plan against Mertens, who took hold of the opportunity and successfully stamped
her win. She effortlessly made her voyage to the top and closed the set with her 6-0 win.
Maia on the other hand, had a comparatively better first serve accuracy of 65 percent but lost majorly because of not bagging more than three of the 11 points offered. Unlike her rival who pocked three of the four break points
presented, the Brazilian did not receive a single serve break in the initial set. However, Mertens secured 53 percent first serve and converted seven of eight first points.
The Belgian junior dominated the second set with her proactive performance on the hard courts. She broke her opponent’s serve in the start of the set and marked her 1-love lead. However, unlike her previous set, the Brazilian
tried her utmost to upset her opponent but was unable to secure any lead. As Maia’s performance was relatively weaker than her opponent’s, Mertens broke her ending serve to eventually clinch a 6-3 victory.
Mertens bombarded five aces on her rival and double faulted twice in the set. Both the contenders had an average first serve percentage of 54. The Brazilian professional nailed down 11 of 14 points in the first and nine of
12 respectively. She had a break point percentage of 67, which marked her emphatic lead in the series. Mertens made two unforced errors in the set, whereas Maia made none.
Mertens will contest against the local challenger Taylor Townsend, the top seeded participant in the junior’s category, in the second round. Townsend rallied pasts the Colombian Laura Ucros in the first round 6-3, 6-3.
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