Hampton/Tatishvili edge past Rampre/Scholl in the quarter-finals – Bell Challenge 2011
In the quarter-final clash of the two unseeded duos in the Bell Challenge, the pair of Jamie Hampton and Anna Tatishvili stood victorious against the combination of Petra Rampre and Chichi Scholl on Friday night.
The contest was staged on the indoor hard courts of Quebec, Canada, with Hampton and Tatishvili winning in three sets, 6-2, 5-7, 10-7, to make it to the semi-final draws of the $220,000 WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) event.
Rampre and Scholl hung in the matchup for one hour and twenty two minutes before succumbing to their aggressive opponents after a stiff contest. Hampton and Tatishvili took hold of the matchup by pocketing the opening set early in the game but their opponents forced their way right back in business by taking the next set. Rampre and Scholl failed to keep their momentum in the final set as well and let their rivals take away victory.
Hampton and Tatishvili served with just 57 per cent precision in the game but clinched 26 first serve points to come out as the winner. They converted three out of eight break opportunities in the matchup to outplay the opposite duo and kept with their aggressive strategy to keep pressing them to surrender.
Rampre and Scholl had a sloppy start in the match and dropped their serve in the very first game to fall on the back foot straight away. Hampton and Tatishvili nailed another break point conversion after a couple of games to wrap up the set number one at 6-2, getting 1-0 in the match.
Tide turned in the following set, with Rampre and Scholl fighting back strongly in the match and nailed two quick serve breaks to surprise Hampton and Tatishvili. They took the second set at 7-5 to bring the contest back on even terms and enforced a final decider into play.
Hampton and Tatishvili stood tall in the third set and raced away to victory by clinching a vital mini-break. Hampton and Tatishvili will face the fourth seeded American duo of Lindsay Lee-Waters and Megan Moulton-Levy in the semi-finals to get a title shot in the final of the Bell Challenge.
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