Jelena Dokic vs. Kurumi Nara - BMW Malaysian Open match preview
Former world number four, Jelena Dokic of Australia, will be taking on Kurumi Nara of Japan in a second round encounter of the BMW Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
The 27-year-old Aussie had a hard fought victory in the opening round of the tournament when she outplayed the top seed, Francesca Schiavone. Bouncing back from being one set down, Dokic defeated the Italian 2-6, 7-6 and 6-4. The Japanese, on the other hand,
had her comprehensive win against the Russian competitor Elena Bovina in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.
Unseeded teenager Nara has never won a Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) title in her career but she can be a strong competitor at times. Her performance in the first round clearly depicted her brilliant tennis skills. Nara broke her opponent’s serve five
times in the contest, while she had her own server broken twice. Although her serve percentages left something to be desired, her overall points winning proficiency was satisfactory.
Winner of five WTA titles, Dokic exhibited her sheer brilliance in overwhelming the top seed Schiavone in the first round. The Aussie had plenty of unforced errors in the contest, yet she recovered to successfully do away with a top five player. Dokic’s
points winning ratio proved critical for her success, so was her solid baseline defence.
It is certain that Dokic’s confidence will be sky high after defeating the top seed player in the very first round, but her error-ridden game raises a lot of question about her performance in the coming matches. The Aussie committed 15 double faults in the
match, which certainly denotes her bleak serve. Although her serve percentage was 63 for the match, she was weak with her return game, winning just 34 of 89 points.
Dokic was also very generous on awarding break opportunities to her opponent. She gifted 10 serve break chances to Schiavone, who merely converted four. This also highlights a hole in the serve of the Australian.
However there were strengths in Dokic’s game, which the top seed could not keep up with. The Aussie’s serve point conversion was quite remarkable. She won 44 out of 56 first serve points and converted three of the six break points in the game. Dokic’s skill
to perform well under immense pressure might prove to be a critical success factor when she meets her 19-year-old Japanese competitor in the second round.
Nara’s performance in the first round was equally applaudable. Her serve percentage of 59 was very near to Dokic’s 63 but she converted more return points than the Aussie did. Nara won 37 of 72 total return points and bagged 55 per cent of the total points
in the contest against Bovina.
Observing Nara’s game, it becomes quite certain that the Japanese lacks the same ability which Schiavone did in her matchup with Dokic. Nara got 15 serve break opportunities from Bovina in the match but converted just five out of them. This certainly shows
her inability to handle the pressure of the situations and cash in her opportunities in time. Dokic will do well should she be able to exploit this weakness.
Both contestants stand at on almost equal footing but the Aussie veteran has an edge of a confidence boost she got by defeating the top seed in the tournament. The Japanese teenager will be eager to earn a name in the tennis world by beating the Aussie.
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