Jamie Hampton strains past Sloane Stephens to reach the second round – Family Circle Cup 2012
Local wildcard entrant, Jamie Hampton, earned a hard-fought victory over the unseeded fellow compatriot, Sloane Stephens, in the opening round of the Family Circle Cup on Monday. The 92nd ranked Hampton took two hours
to conclude matchup in straight sets, 7-5, 7-6(1), driving the world number 75 from the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier tournament in style.
Hampton faced Stephens last year at the Indian Wells Masters, suffering a straight sets defeat in the very first round. It was the payback time for the 22-year-old and she delivered her best to outsmart Stephens in a taxing battle
to reach the second round of the Family Circle Cup. Hampton registered her 19th victory of the running WTA season to level the head-to-head series against the fellow American at 1-1.
Stephens took the better of her opponent some segments of the game but in the end it was the number of serve breaks registered from both players which made the vital difference. Hampton constructed 16 break chances in total but
converted only five of them to wrap up victory in style. On the other hand, Stephens could register four out of her six break opportunities to finish on the losing side in the end. She coughed seven double faults and secured 28 out of 39 first serve points
in the contest. Hampton also spilled out the same number of double faults but she clinched 37 out of 61 first serve points to have an edge over her opponent.
An early exchange of serve breaks was seen in the opening set, with the scores ticking over to reach 4-4. The two competitors traded two more serve breaks and took the opening set closer to the tie-breaker round at 5-5. All Stephens
needed was to hold her serve in the 12th game to enforce a tie-breaker round but a cracking break of serve from the other American stunned her. Hampton sealed the first set at 7-5 in her favour to get one up in the matchup.
19 year-old Stephens was more cautious with her game play in the following set and kept moving neck-to-neck with her opponent. She suffered two serve breaks but replied with the same to reach 6-6. Finally, a tie-breaker round came
into play and Stephens utterly crumbled in the decider to gift away victory to her opponent at 6-7(1).
Hampton will play the second seed Aussie tennis ace, Samantha Stosur, in the second round of the tournament.
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