Jelena Dokic beats Tatjana Malek in the qualifying rounds of the Sony Ericsson Open
Top seed Australian qualifier Jelena Dokic continued her good form to win her encounter against Tatjana Malek of Germany in the first round qualifiers of the Sony Ericsson Open at Miami, Florida on Monday night. The Aussie won
a three-set thriller 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, in two hours and eight minutes to advance to the second round.
The 27-year-old Australian veteran avenged her defeat by the German, levelling their head-to-head record at 1-1. She was defeated by Malek in the 2009 edition of Wimbledon but got the better of her opponent this time around. Dokic
dropped the opening set of the contest but bounced back in to the game to register her 14th victory of the running WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) season.
It was an enthralling contest to watch as the two players pushed hard at each other to book a berth in the second round of the qualifiers. Dokic had a sloppy start to the game but recovered very well from the one-set deficit to
win the match. Malek took off very well to bag the opener but lost her momentum in the later two sets to end her voyage at the Sony Ericsson Open.
The Aussie served decently in the match, delivering 61 per cent serve on target and taking 41 out of 61 points on it. She committed six double faults in the process but belted six aces as well to nullify the mistakes. Dokic crafted
a total of eight opportunities to break the opponent’s serve and succeeded three times in doing so.
Malek’s aggressive start to the opener put her in the commanding position as she collected 74 per cent of her first serve points. The German displayed brilliant error-free tennis to edge pass her opponent, capitalizing upon the
silly mistakes of Dokic. The two double faults by the Aussie proved costly for her as Malek cracked the first serve break of the match to close the opening set at 7-5.
The Australian had a strict check over her unforced errors in the next set and stung an early break to get to commanding lead of 4-1. Although Malek collected 81 per cent of her first serve points, she failed to break the Australian
serve in the second set and kept lagging behind as Dokic clinched the second set at 6-3.
With the two players bagging one set a piece, an action packed third set was witnessed. An early exchange of serve breaks was seen from both sides but a second break point from Dokic gave her the necessary momentum to conclude
victory at 6-4.
Dokic will take on Christina McHale of the United States in the second round of the qualifiers. McHale ousted Carina Witthoeft of Germany in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, in the opening round.
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