Irina Camelia-Begu sent packing Catalina Castano in the opening round – Generali Ladies Linz 2012
World number 57, Irina Camelia-Begu, trashed her fellow lucky loser from Colombian, Catalina Castano, in the opening round of the Generali Ladies Linz on Tuesday. She bagged the victory in straight sets 6-0, 6-4 taking almost an
hour and 28 minutes at the hard courts of Austria.
It was the first face-off between the two athletes who lost their final qualifying matches but made it into the first round courtesy two retirements of Anna Tatishvili (Viral Infection) and Dominika Cibulkova (Shoulder injury).
Begu was the top seed contestant in the qualifying stage but couldn’t live up to the expectations of her fans. However, the luck favoured her and she found a way into the second round of the tournament now.
The opening set was a pure class at both ends but the results were just running in favour of the 22-year-old Romanian. She was tested to her limits in the starting game of the match but survived seven deuces before registering
a serve hold. On the other hand, the 33-year-old Colombian surrendered after three deuces in the second game.
The luck continued to favour the 57th ranked Romanian who bagged another game after a tough fight. She broke serve for the second time in the match and registered a stupendous lead of 4-0. Castano showed immense fight
in the last two games but couldn’t sneak a game; fall victim to an embarrassing bagel and trailed by a set down.
The second set witnessed a serve hold at both ends before Begu made it 2-1 courtesy another firm game. However, the series of breakthroughs followed that conventional start. All in all, seven breakpoints were contested on the trot;
four of them in favour of the Begu that were good enough to close the match a bit earlier than expected. It was a terrific match but the score line didn’t do justice to the 230th ranked Colombian veteran who fought until the end without any luck.
Irina Camelia-Begu locks horns with the in-form Dutch star, Kiki Bertens, in the second round of the tournament. An unfortunate event earlier in the day witnessed the Ukrainian qualifier, Lesya Tsurenko, withdrawing from the contest
against Simona Halep after incurring a shoulder injury.
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