Irina Camelia-Begu dispatches Galina Voskoboeva in the quarters – Tashkent Open 2012
World number 87, Irina Camelia-Begu registered yet another upset in the quarter-final of the Tashkent Open in Uzbekistan on the eve of Thursday. She dismissed the 77th ranked Kazakh professional, Galina Voskoboeva, in
an epic three-setter; bouncing back a set down to clinch the victory 3-6, 7-6(1), 7-5.
Begu commented at the end of the match, “At 2-5 I just decided to hold my serve and return every ball. It is very difficult to break Galina, but I did it twice and kept my nerves.”
She further added, "Yesterday I played well to win against Cornet, and today against Galina was tougher. Galina is a good friend of mine and it's difficult to play her, but winning is always nice. I'm happy that I am playing well
and my game is coming back.”
The eighth seed Kazakh ruled the first phase of the match; winning a breakthrough in the second game and posting a resounding lead of 3-0. However, the Romanian fought back with three consecutive game triumphs and equalized the
scores at 3-3.
The tables were turned against the Romanian in the eighth game when she failed to hold serve despite saving three back-to-back breakpoints. Voskoboeva squeezed a serve hold and won the opening set. She failed to carry the momentum
into the second phase of the match; lost three games upfront but bounced back well to equalize the scores at 3-3.
No breakthrough was witnessed in the remaining portion of the set and the tie-breaker round was enforced to separate the two contestants. Luckily for the 22-year-old Romanian, she clinched a massive lead of 5-0 in the tie-breaker
and allowed just one point to her rival before enforcing the final set into play.
The 27-year-old Kazakh started the final set at a high-note; won the first breakpoint in the sixth game and led the scores 5-3. She was serving for the match but the Romanian somehow broke serve and kept the set alive. She held
her serve and won another breakpoint in the following game. A comfortable win in the final game rounded off the match in her favour.
Begu squares off against the second seed Pole, Urszula Radwanska, in the semi-final.
Originally the Romanian was planning to miss out on the event but the visa issue was timely resolved that helped her to reach Uzbekistan in time. She added, “I wanted to skip this event, but then I made up my mind to play just
five days before and then applied for the visa and managed to get here.”
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