Irina Camelia-Begu overwhelms Ajla Tomljanovic in 2nd round – Budapest Grand Prix 2011
Number seven seed Irina-Camelia Begu battled past Ajla Tomljanovic 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday to book her place in the third round of 2011 Budapest Grand Prix in Hungary. The match was played on an extremely competitive note as both
players exchanged serve breaks throughout. However, the Romanian finally overcame her Croat opponent after 1 hour and 45 minutes of exciting play.
Making a very confident start to the contest, Begu broke her opponent early in the opening set to gain the psychological advantage. Breaking straight back, Tomljanovic showed amazing character and fighting abilities to even the
game score.
The contestants held on to their serve games until the set reached a crucial stage at 4-4. Converting her second break chance in ninth game of the set, the 20-year-old Begu took a tricky 5-4 lead, serving for the set. Dashing an
incredible forehand winner down the line, she made two set points available to her and then converted the first one to take the set score lead 1-0.
The second set also followed a very similar pattern with both players putting up a great fight to break one another. Begu again had the first opportunity to lead the game score with a break of serve, which she converted successfully
to dent her opponent confidence levels. Breaking the serve two times in the set, she earned an impassable lead in the set. The Croat failed to handle the pressure as she started to make a large number of unforced errors. Although she broke back twice in the
second, she couldn’t stop her rival from earning a well deserved straight sets victory.
An excellent 72 per cent first serve conversion combined with magical defensive abilities allowed Begu to establish control over the match. Hitting five serve aces in the match, she earned cheap points at curial moments. Tomljanovic
had her chances but she managed to convert only three out of seven break points in the match, which proved to be very costly for her.
Ranked 77th in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings, Begu has been in decent form since the season has started. Having won twenty seven out of thirty five matches in the year 2011, she has improved her ranking significantly.
Still in pursuit of her first WTA title, Begu has a great chance to prove her metal here on the clay courts of Hungary. However to make it to the final stages of the WTA tournament, she must try and bring more consistency in her game play. Winner of the tournament
will be pocketing US $ 220,000 on Sunday.
Tags: