Heather Watson stuns Sorana Cirstea to open her account – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
A major upset of the first round clash of the Sony Ericsson Open was witnessed at the hard courts of Miami when the 129th ranked Briton, Heather Watson, dumped the 48th ranked Romanian, Sorana Cirstea, in
a gruelling three-setter. Final scores were 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(4).
No one could believe what they had witnessed on Tuesday eve. Cirstea was the hot favourite to win an easy draw that would have placed a berth in the second round of the tournament but she failed to handle the resistance of her
counterpart.
The first set witnessed serve holds at both ends for the first seven games before the Briton broke her opponent’s serve to take the lead of 5-3. A comprehensive serve hold earned her a set lead and more importantly enhanced her
chances of registering an upset.
Watson, just 19-years-old, couldn’t continue the momentum in the second set of the match and lost an early breakthrough to her opponent. She was 3-0 down at the start but played well to register a couple of serve holds to lock
the trail to just two games. Scores were 4-2 at that stage.
The Romanian’s serve was broken in the seventh game but she immediately reinstated her lead with a break back in the following game. Finally, a tight serve hold levelled the set scores at one apiece.
Stage was set for an epic third set and it turned out to be nail-biting contest. Watson was two breakpoints down in the first three games of the set and went down 5-0 after another thumping breakthrough for Cirstea.
It was almost all over for the local player but she somehow kept the set alive by winning a breakthrough in the sixth game of the set. The situation was still favouring the Romanian beauty starlet but she went down another break
and then another that levelled the scores to 5-5.
Everyone in the arena was stunned and roared for their teenager who had pulled up a majestic comeback. She went on to win the tie-breaker round as well and received a standing ovation from the spectators in the arena.
Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic is Watson’s next opponent.
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