Galina Voskoboeva ousts Polona Hercog in semi-final – Hansol Korea Open 2011
Concluding the semi-final with the biggest upset was unseeded Galina Voskoboeva, who conquered fifth seeded Polona Hercog in the round of four at the Hansol Korea Open 2011. Kazakh Voskoboeva took up the gauntlet against the fifth
seeded Slovenian on indoor hard courts in Seoul, South Korea. After one hour and thirty one minutes the Kazakh enjoyed a straight sets victory of 6-1, 6-4 over the much talked about the fifth seed.
The two players were meeting for the first time and had never contested against each other in their professional career. Subsequently, after winning the toss, Voskoboeva opened serve and easily cruised to put herself onto the scoreboard
but was followed closely by the world number 35 Slovenian Hercog. During the third and the fourth game Voskoboeva shifted gears to move into top speed and with a serve-break-serve technique went on to leading the scoreboard with 4-1.
Amidst the fifth and sixth game Voskoboeva capitalized on the Slovenian’s expensive double fault and as she held serve for the last time in the opening set, she smashed a backhand winner to clinch a bread stick victory over Hercog.
Moving onto the second set, serving first was Hercog, who had a shattered demeanour and wanted to avenge her loss of the first set. Hercog opened the first game at 1-0, she then went on to breaking her opponent in the second game
and by holding serve in the third, she was leading with a 3-0.
The crowd at this point thought the match would go into a tie breaker or maybe three sets but Voskoboeva proved everyone wrong as she went on to holding her serve in the fourth and sixth game but she was still a game and break
down.
Carrying her form and confidence into the second set, she then broke her opponent with a crosscourt forehand and as she held serve, she equalized the score to 4-4. The crowd went into frenzy as she had jumped back from three games
down to eventually tie the score at 4-4 in the eighth game.
Voskoboeva now took a notch higher in her style and completely dominated the number five seeded Hercog by breaking her for the second time in the ninth game. By the end of the ninth game, Voskoboeva was now looking to serve for
the match in the tenth and by smashing two successive aces at 30-30; she snatched the set 6-4 and the match.
Advancing in the semi final, Voskoboeva now moves on ahead to play the final against Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez from Spain.
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