Irina-Camelia Begu outfoxes Kathrin Woerle to reach round two – Nurnberger Gastein Ladies 2012
Seeded sixth in the tournament, Irina-Camelia Begu rallied past the German contestant, Kathrin Woerle, in a see-saw match at the Nurnberger Gastein Ladies 2012 on Wednesday. She summed up a 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 victory against the 28-year-old to labour into the
pre-quarters at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International tournament held in Austria.
The Bucharest native put her head in the game throughout the match and despite losing the second set, she carved out the victory in their third meeting. After pocketing the match in two hours and 23 minutes, Begu not only improved to a 3-0 lifetime in the
head-to-head series against the world number 220 but also booked a place in the second round.
Begu made a strong start at this red clay court tournament and convincingly held her opening serve. After exchanging two serve breaks, she got the breakthrough in the last game and clicked the opener with a 7-5 win.
The German sought her rhythm in the follow-up set and held her serve in the opening game to take the initial lead. After the Romanian held her serve in the second game, Woerle unleashed flurry of groundstrokes and went on a six-game killing spree. She brushed
off all three breakpoints she faced and capitalised on three out of four break chances to pocket the equaliser with a breadstick.
Ranked 61st in the WTA Premier Rankings, Begu got the coveted break in the opening game of the final set and found her early momentum. Despite losing the following three games after gifting away her serve twice, the Romanian reeled off the last
five games in a row and sealed the decider with a 6-3 score line.
All in all, the 21-year-old spilled fewer double faults but manipulated a better first serve share of 67 per cent as opposed to her rival’s 60 per cent. She also marked 36 out of 64 points on it. The Romanian also sought 16 break opportunities and sealed
the deal with 98 points.
Next in queue for Begu is the American qualifier, Chichi Scholl, who crushed Czech Republic’s Zuzana Ondraskova with a bagel to set up this battle.
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