Irina Camelia-Begu ousts Stefanie Voegele in second qualifier – Generali Ladies Linz 2012
World number 57, Irina Camelia-Begu, stood firm in the hunt for a spot in the main round of the Generali Ladies Linz in Austria. She overpowered the 120th ranked Swiss, Stefanie Voegele, in a tight three-setter to clear
the second qualifying round on Sunday. The final scores were 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 in her favour.
Begu broke serve three times in the opening set and held her serve on three different occurrences out of four to capture the first set in quick succession. The only time she failed to stamp her authority was the third game of the
match when she dropped a breakpoint.
The tables were turned upon the 22-year-old Romanian in the second set. Begu had a stupendous lead of 4-1 upfront, courtesy to three back-to-back breakpoints and a serve hold in between. However, a marvellous comeback witnessing
a breakthrough in the crunch game for Voegele coupled with another breakpoint in the 12th game to round off the second phase in her favour.
Voegele led the scores 2-0 in the final set before a swirl of luck helped the top seed Romanian to equalize the scores at 3-3. Both players capitalized on the following serve games to make it 4-4. However, a critical breakthrough
for the Romanian in the ninth game forced the 22-year-old Swiss in a ‘do or die’ situation where she opted for the latter after a meagre fight.
Mallory Burdette of American will face Irina Camelia-Begu in the final qualifier.
Other seeded players who successfully cleared the second qualifying rounds are:
Kirsten Flipkens (2)
Vera Dushevina was the victim of the second seed on Sunday; losing out in straight sets 2-6, 6-3.
Flipkens plays the seventh seed Jana Cepelova in final qualifier.
Ksenia Pervak (5)
Pervak scuttled past the American veteran, Jill Craybas, in straight sets with scores of 6-1, 6-2.
The Kazakh lock horns with Bethanie Mattek-Sands for a spot in the main round.
Lesya Tsurenko (6)
Tsurenko ended the run of the Austrian wildcard entrant, Yvonne Neuwirth, with a tight straight sets victory 6-3, 7-6(1).
She plays the Colombian professional, Catalina Castano, in last qualifier.
Jana Cepelova (7)
Annika Beck of Germany lost to Cepelova after winning the first set. Final scores were 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 in favour of the Slovak.
Cepelova and Flipkens will go head-to-head in the hunt for a main round berth.
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