Emma Laine ousts Junri Namigata in qualifying 2nd round – Hansol Korea Open 2011
The first upset that took place was between unseeded Emma Laine and qualifying second seed, Junri Namigata in the qualifying second round of the Hansol Korea Open. The two battled it out on the hard courts of Olympic Tennis Courts in Seoul, South Korea on the 18th of September 2011. After 1 hour and 28 minutes of the match Finnish Laine won in straight sets of 6-4, 6-4.
After winning the toss, Laine was first to open the score board and the two players easily put themselves on the score board in the first two games. In the following six games the players won on their respective serves to round off the score at 4-4.
During the ninth game Laine held her serve by hitting a forehand down the line and in the tenth was hoping to break her adversary and serve the match. As Namigata served to stay in the match, Laine forced an error from Namigata at 40-30 and the Finnish was able to clog the opening set.
Namigata was unable to break her adversary even once, and had double faulted three times due to which she lost most of her points. Also, Namigata was unable to avail four break point opportunities in the opening set and because of a poor return game, she lost the set.
Amidst the first two games of the second set both the players held their respective serves and the score balanced out at 1-1. However, Namigata was first to break and take a mini lead in the third game, not wanting her adversary to take the lead, Laine broke back in the fourth game to level the score at 2-2.
In the following four games the players won on alternate serves and didn’t let the other take a mini lead. However, in the ninth game Laine smashed a backhand winner and held her serve but in the tenth game, the players battled a deuce but Laine won on advantage to secure her victory of the second set and the match.
Laine was not broken in the entire match and held her own as the dominant player. Although, the two had a great competition amongst each other, Laine pushed a notch higher and was able to secure a total of sixty eight points in the match which were eleven more points than Namigata.
The unseeded Finnish defeated number 2 seeded in straight sets and was able to reserve a spot in the final qualies, where she will be facing number seven seeded Czech Kristyna Pliskova.
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