Jelena Dokic ousted; Mirjana Lucic moves into the quarterfinal of Internationaux de Strasbourg
Qualifier Mirjana Lucic eased past Australian tennis-pro Jelena Dokic 6-2, 6-2 on Wednesday to reach the last eight of 2011 Internationaux de Strasbourg in France.
This will be the first quarterfinal appearance in almost 12 years for the 29-year-old Lucic. Her opponent in the quarterfinal will be Anabel Medina Garrigues who has a formidable record at Strasbourg, being the title winner in 2005, 2007 and 2008. Lucic will have to up her game play considerably if she wants to emerge victorious in the battle against Spaniard.
The Croat made a positive start to the contest and looked to exploit her opponent’s weaknesses. She had an early chance of breaking the serve when she smashed a wonderful forehand winner to setup three break points for herself. She then converted the second one with a lovely return backhand shot to take 2-0 lead in the set. Having put her opponent under immense pressure, Lucic continued to play her natural game freely. She broke the serve again in seventh game and held on to her next serve game to claim the opener 6-2.
The second also followed a pretty similar pattern with Lucic dominating the Challenger in almost all aspects of the game. Her strong backhand proved to be major factor in deciding the outcome of the game as she earned valuable points by means of it. Dokic made the first serve break of the set to lead the game score 2-0. But Lucic displayed some high quality tennis afterwards to win six straight games and end the contest after for only 59 minutes of play.
Lucic’s ability to win crucial points ensured her a strong position in the match. Although her first serve conversion was only 61 per cent, she established control over the contest with complete dominance in other areas of the game. The Croat made most of the opportunities that were presented to her as she converted six out of nine break points in the match.
Starting the year on a very poor note at Brisbane, Dokic bounced back brilliantly to lift her sixth Women’s Tennis Association title at Malaysian Open, which was also her first in almost 9 years. The former world number four however struggled to time the ball here in her second round match at the WTA tournament and paid the heavy price for her large number of unforced errors. Dokic’s weak serve forced her to adopt defensive strategy as she made 9 doubles faults in the match. She will be hoping to make a strong come back at her next WTA appearance to prove that she still belongs to this arena.
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