Irina-Camelia Begu downs Timea Babos to reach round two – Fes WTA 2012
Romanian contestant, Irina-Camelia Begu, edged past the Hungarian starlet, Timea Babos, in straight sets at the Grand Prix De SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem 2012 on Monday. She penned down a 7-6(3), 6-3 victory against the 18-year-old to book a spot in the
round of 16 at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) clay court event held in Morocco.
Begu spilled more double faults but got the better of the world number 64 after fending off early resilience. Both players were facing each other for the first time and after earning the glory at this one hour and 45-minute marathon, the Romanian not only
edged in the head-to-head series by 1-0 against Babos but also inched closer towards her maiden WTA career title.
Ranked 56th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Begu made a sluggish start at the Royal Tennis Club de Fes and suffered the first blow in the opening game to trail at 0-2. She recovered in the fourth game but only to see her trailing at 2-3 after gifting
away another serve. However, she sought her rhythm after that and wiped out the following three games in a row, eventually leaping at 5-3. Despite squandering her edge in the ninth game, the Romanian outshined her rival in the tie-breaker and pulled out the
opener with a 7-6(3) score line.
The 21-year-old unleashed her true form in the proceeding set and stroke out the opening five games in a row to leap at 5-0. Apart from losing her chance to serve out the bagel, she capitalised on another break chance in the last game and sealed the set
with a 6-3 win.
All in all, Begu clobbered a higher first serve share of 66 per cent as opposed to the Hungarian’s 57 per cent and marked 24 out of 42 points on it. She sought 13 break chances and finished the match with 77 points.
Up next for the Bucharest resident is the winner of the match between second seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and the Greek contestant, Eleni Daniilidou. Begu needs to improve her defences in order to overpower a seeded player at this event.
Tags: