Estrella Cabeza-Candela loses to Laura Thorpe in the final qualifier – Barcelona Ladies Open 2012
Spanish fourth seed, Estrella Cabeza-Candela, bounced back a set down to win the second set but the curse of tie-breakers forced her out of the Barcelona Ladies Open. Her opponent was the 24-years-old French professional, Laura
Thorpe, and they were contesting in the final qualifying round of the Barcelona Ladies Open. She lost the opening set tie-breaker but fought back well to power down her competitor with scores of 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(0).
Candela started off well with a breakthrough in the opening game but squandered the lead in the fourth game. She was once again leading the scores 5-2 at one stage but then again an all-round onslaught from her opponent levelled
the scores at 5-5 and both players swapped breakthroughs to enforce a tie-breaker round.
It was a very enthralling battle and the crowd loved every bit of it. A tie-breaker round witnessed the home player going down in the opening set to an inferior ranked contestant. However, she fought back into the contest, winning
early breakpoint in the second set to take a lead.
She was broken in the seventh game but pounced on her opponent in the final game of the set to register the second and most crucial breakthrough of the set. The set scores were evenly poised at one apiece and stage was set for
another epic drama.
Apart from the first serve hold from the Spaniard, all games in the final set witnessed breakpoints. It was such a tipsy turvy encounter that no one could predict anything about it. Everyone in the arena moved to the edge of their
seats to enjoy a nail-biting contest. Thorpe was the one who was following up on her opponent all the time so the Spaniard had the advantage of that initial serve hold.
Finally, the French held serve for the first time in the set. The following two games were also held by the respective serve players that enforced the tie-breaker. The curse of the tie-breaker continued for the superior ranked
Spaniard and she lost the match.
In the first match of the opening round, the seeded Israeli contestant, Sara Errani, strained past the Romanian starlet, Irina-Camelia Begu, to inch one step closer to her second Women Association title campaign.
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