Irina Camelia-Begu dispatches Alize Cornet and enters into the last eight – Tashkent Open 2012
World number 87, Irina-Camelia Begu, stood up to the task in the second round of the Tashkent Open on Wednesday; dismissed the 49th ranked French age-fellow, Alize Cornet, in straight sets 6-4, 6-1 in a battle of an
hour and 47 minutes.
Both players commenced with a breakthrough at each end. However, the well earned serve hold was bagged by the Romanian 22-year-old starlet who saved a breakpoint in the third game. The series of breakthroughs again erupted at both
ends and no player was able to register a single serve hold throughout the remaining portion of the opening set.
It was a tipsy turvy start from both opponents and Begu capitalized on that mere serve hold but the fighting spirit from the 22-year-old French star was a treat to watch. She was expected to win the encounter considering the superior
rank and being the third seed contestant of the tournament. However, the tables were turned upon her by the decent Romanian who executed her game plan to perfection.
Begu commenced the second set with a serve hold and denied her opponent from holding the serve in the consequent game. Both contestants swapped breakpoints and pushed the scores to 3-1 in favour of the 87th ranked Romanian.
Another serve hold for Begu made it 4-1.
Total of 15 games were contested between the two players and the third seed French had served seven of them but couldn’t register a single hold. It was a terrible stat for someone who is ranked amongst the Top-50 players of the
world and contesting a battle against an athlete who is not even in the Top-80’s.
Cornet served for the eighth time in the match and could just win a single point in the entire game. The misery continued and she was drowned to a massive trail of 1-5; had to break serve in the following game to keep the match
alive but she couldn’t and fell victim to a compact display from an underdog.
Commenting about the know-how of her rival and the proceedings about the match, Begu stated, “I know Alizé's game, as we have played doubles with each other before. So I played patiently and managed to return well today. In the
second set I started hitting very well and the score turned even more in my favour. It's a good result for me and I'm very happy to make it to the quarterfinals here."
Irina Camelia-Begu plays Galina Voskoboeva in the next round.
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