Johanna Larsson plonks Jana Cepelova to enter round two – Nurnberger Gastein Ladies 2012
Eight seed, Johanna Larsson, trashed the Slovakian qualifier, Jana Cepelova, in straight sets at the Nurnberger Gastein Ladies 2012 on Wednesday. She clobbered a 6-4, 7-6(1) victory against the world number 178 to power into the second round at this WTA
(Women’s Tennis Association) clay court tournament held in Bad Gastein, Austria.
The Swedish star warded off late resistance to triumph over Cepelova in one hour and 41 minutes. After earning this success, Larsson assertively advanced into the pre-quarters at this WTA International-level tournament taking place from 9th to
17th June.
Larsson made a nervy entry at these Austrian clay courts and suffered the first blow in the sixth game to trail at 2-4. However, she stayed in contention and went on a four-game tear, ultimately pulling out the opener with a 6-4 score line. The Swede amazingly
warded off three out of four breakpoints she faced and cashed in both break chances to inch towards the limelight.
Ranked 89th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Larsson kept momentum floating into the following set and earned the coveted break in the third game to jump to a 3-1 lead. Despite losing her edge in the sixth game, the Swede exchanged two serve breaks
and took the set to the tie-breaker. She wiped out the last six points in a row and sealed the victory with a 7-6(1) win.
Summing up the seed’s performance, Larsson clobbered a lower first serve share of 52 per cent as compared to her rival’s 61 per cent but acceptably availed 25 out of 43 points on it. She also committed fewer unforced errors and finished the match with 88
points.
Larsson will square off against the American contestant, Jill Craybas, who downed Russia’s Nina Bratchikova in straight sets to set up this meeting.
The sixth seed, Irina-Camelia Begu, will accompany the Swede in the following round. She rallied past the German challenger, Kathrin Woerle, in a three-set thriller to progress at this event. The Romanian brushed off eight out of 15 breakpoints she encountered
and capitalised on seven out of 16 break chances to formulate a 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 success.
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