Irina Camelia Begu trashes Estrella Candela; breezes into the semis – Budapest Grand Prix 2011
Seventh seeded Romanian Irina Camelia Begu flashed past Spanish qualifier Estrella Cabeza Candela with a bagel at the POLI-FARBE Grand Prix, a clay court tournament held in Budapest, Hungary. She registered a 6-0, 6-3 against the
24-year-old Spaniard to cruise into the semi-finals on Friday.
Begu, ranked 77th in the Sony Ericson WTA Premier rankings, took almost an hour to dump the qualifier, ranked 122 places below her, on their second meeting. She earned a bagel on their last duel as well at Marbella earlier
this season and after earning this success, the Romanian extended the lead in their head-to-head series by 2-0.
20-year-old Begu flashed into the opening set as she bombarded groundstrokes and angled shots with perfection to reel off all six games in a row. Begu produced a slightly lower first serve share of 69 percent as compared to Candela’s
64 percent and registered a fantastic 73 percent win on it. She faced no difficulty or threat the Spaniard and capitalised on three out of nine breakpoint chances to her advantage to earn the bagel.
The Romanian carried her winning ways into the final set as she easily held her opening serve. With her tremendous defensive skills, she saved four out of five breakpoints conceded and regardless of a lower first serve share, Begu
registered an impressive 73 percent win on it. She then converted half of the four breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to seal the set with a 6-3 win.
The Bucharest native is in top shape this season as she made a final berth at Marbella WTA and Marseille ITF events and clinched the titles at Cali ITF. Despite exiting from the opening round at Wimbledon, she re-ignited her spark
in this WTA Premier International event and secured a last four spot after this success.
Up next for the Romanian is Spanish number one, Anabel Medina Garrigues. Both veterans will meet each other for the first time.
"My goal is to continue to play how I'm playing," the 28-year-old Spaniard, who is focusing solely on Begu, said. "I'm just trying to do what my coach has been telling me: play and enjoy the game!"
Fifth seeded Garrigues earned a 4-6, 7-5, 3-0 retirement victory over the second seeded Italian Sara Errani. She saved six out of eleven breakpoints faced and converted six out of thirteen breakpoint opportunities to her advantage
to seal the deal in almost three hours. The higher ranked Spanish star was leading 3-0 in the decider when the Italian was forced to retire due to cramping.
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