Estrella Cabeza Candela upsets Aravane Rezai at the Andalucia Tennis Experience
World number 24 Aravane Rezai of France was the first top ranked casualty at the Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella, Spain, when she was defeated by 258thranked Spaniard, Estrella Cabeza Candela in the first round. The Spanish wildcard entrant wrapped up her demolition job in just 68 minutes, settling scores at 6-3, 6-0, at Tuesday noon’s matchup.
The 24-year-old Spanish was ballistic throughout the contest, completely blowing away the third seed competitor out of the $220,000 WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) tournament. Rezai had beaten Candela was back in 2006 at Palermo in a three-set thriller, but had to suffer a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Spaniard this time round. Candela registered her ninth win of the running WTA season, levelling her head-to-head record against the French to 1-1.
The third seed appeared in no sorts of form in the contest, bestowing plenty of opportunities to her opponent in the game. Rezai served with just 64 per cent accuracy, conceding four double faults and winning 24 of 53 serve points in the match. She had her chances in the game but failed to avail them. The Frenchwoman went close to break the opponent’s serve on nine different occasions but succeeded just once, hinting the rock solid defence of Candela.
Twelve break opportunities came Candela’s way and she converted five of them to come out as the winner at the end. Although her 58 per cent first serve met its target, she clinched 23 out of 32 points on it to get the competitive edge over Rezai.
Candela took off the opener with aggression, trying to exert early pressure upon the French. She broke her opponent in the fourth game to lead 3-1 and kept consolidating her position with her attacking moves. Rezai broke the shackles in the seventh game by breaking her opponent and cutting the deficit to 3-4 but her errant strokes led her down in the very next game to drop her serve. The Spaniard served out of the opening set at 6-3 and led the contest by one set to none.
The 24-year-old French stepped in the next set in hope of a better performance but her opponent wiped her out of the set with utmost ease. Candela launched a series of attacks to Rezai, belting assertive winners all around the clay court and pushing her opponent to her limits. She broke the French in every serve game and won 33 out of 54 total points in the second set. Rezai had no chance to survive the aggression of the Spaniard and finally submitted the match at 0-6, without winning a single game in the second set.
Candela will take on the Romanian qualifier Irina-Camelia Begu in the second round of the Andalucia Tennis Experience. Begu stood victorious against Alberta Brianti of Italy in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1, in the opening round matchup.
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