Jamie Hampton and Kirsten Flipkens clear opening round of the qualifying draw at the Sony Ericsson Open
28-year-old American, Jamie Hampton surprised everyone by defeating qualifying second seed Canadian, Rebecca Marino in the first qualifying round of the Sony Ericsson Open at Miami, Florida on Monday night. The world number 127,
Hampton outplayed the 57th ranked Marino in straight sets 6-1, 7-5, taking just 75 minutes of play.
Hampton returned the favour to the Canadian, who had defeated her in straight sets 6-4, 6-1, at Memphis this year. The American made their head-to-head career record 1-1 after registering her eighth victory of the current year
at Miami.
It was a magnificent display of high quality tennis from Hampton as she ejected the second seeded contestant. The two contestants served equally well in the match but the American proved out to be a better player in terms of collecting
crucial points. A total of 133 points were played in the game, with the Canadian winning 58 and Hampton bagging 75 points. She also excelled over Marino with her serve and return points winning percentages.
The opening set was an exhibition of sheer dominance from Hampton as she broke the opponent’s serve three times with and clinched 31 of 50 total points. The American sealed of the opener assertively at 6-1, in barely half an hour
and continued her winning momentum in the next set as well. Marino posed a strong resistance to Hampton in the second set, but dropped her serve in one game to finish on the losing end of the match at 5-7.
Hampton will be taking on Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium in the second round of the qualifying draws. The 17th seed Belgian defeated Lesya Tsurenko of Ukraine in the first round qualifiers later on Monday night. She took
just 72 minutes of play to route her opponent in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, to advance to the next round.
Although Flipkens served below 50 per cent accuracy in the contest, she collected 62 of the total 103 points being played in the match to come out as the winner. The Belgian crafted nine break chances and converted five of them,
while her Ukrainian opponent registered just one serve break. She rarely faced a serious challenge from Tsurenko in the contest and eased cruised past both sets to achieve her fourth victory of the running WTA season.
Flipkens capitalized upon the mistakes of the Ukrainian, who coughed three double faults in the opener, to get the early advantage in the game. She stung two serve breaks to reach set point at 5-2 and served out to bag the first
set.
The second set was a complete replication of the opener, except Tsurenko striking her first serve break in the seventh game. The Ukrainian was left answerless as Flipkens stung three break points to conclude victory at 6-2 and
book a date with Hampton in the second round of the qualifying draws of Sony Ericsson Open.
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