Irina-Camelia Begu and Kristyna Pliskova qualify for the main draw at the 2011 Grand Prix SAR
Qualifying top seed Irina-Camelia Begu defeated Sloane Stephens of United States 7-6 (4), 6-2 in straight sets to qualify for the main draw at the 2011 Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem qualifying tournament in Morocco.
Both contestants displayed high quality tennis in the opener pushing the set went into a tie-breaker. Stephens made the first serve break in second game of the set to take 2-0 game score lead. However, Begu broke back immediately
and then held on to her next serve game to level the score at 2-2. In the tie-breaker she clinched four successive points to lead the set score by 1-0.
Stephens seemed to have lost her focus in the following set. Begu made most of her chances in the set and dropped only a couple of games to secure a comfortable victory at the end. The match lasted for about 1 hour and 40 minutes.
Begu’s serve was on target most of the times as she achieved an impressive 77 per cent first serve conversion. She made some double faults early in the match but quickly organized her game and made her opponent run for her money.
Begu will take on Yaroslava Shvedova in her first round match at the tournament.
Ranked 102 in the world, Begu has been in decent form over the last few months. Although she failed to give considerable performances on the Women’s Tennis Association tour, she has achieved significant results on the Challengers
tour. The young Romanian tennis-pro is in pursuit of her first career title and has a real chance of upsetting few top seeded players in the main draw.
Kristyna Pliskova of Czech Republic also secured a place in the main draw of red clay courts tournament with a tight win over the Frenchwoman Severine Beltrame 6-4, 7-6 (7) on Sunday.
Pliskova made a tentative start and made a few unforced errors early in the opening set. Beltrame took complete advantage of her critical mistake and scored her first serve break in third game of the set. However Pliskova raised
the level of her game and showed extreme determination and mental strength to pocket the first set despite trailing by 3-1 in the game score at one stage.
The two players put up an impressive show in the second set as well. Serve breaks were exchanged as the set was forced into a tie-breaker. Pliskova used her powerful backhand shot extremely effectively and converted one of the
match points to book her place in the main tournament. Her first round opponent will be her compatriot Renata Voracova.
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