Johanna Larsson reaches round two after early withdrawal from Olga Govortsova – Swedish Open 2012
World number 104, Johanna Larsson, was leading the scores 7-6(6), 4-3 when her competitor from Belarus, the 23-year-old Olga Govortsova, withdrew from the contest after consistent suffering from a viral illness.
A battle that lasted an hour and 32 minutes at the clay courts of Bastad, Sweden, witnessed a struggling effort from the 81st ranked Belarusian who would have most probably won the encounter provided she started the
match fully fit.
The opening set witnessed a tradition play in the first four games as the contestants held their serves to push the scores at 2-2. However, each player had an opportunity to break serve once but they squandered it that kept the
scores together.
Suddenly, the momentum of the play shifted and both players traded breakpoints in the heated atmosphere. Without much damage to any party, the scores were pushed to 4-4. A swap of breakpoints in the following two games made things
interesting for a short period of time but once again there was nothing to distinguish at all.
Both players held their serves in the remaining games of the first set before a tie-breaker round was enforced to decide the set. It was a tight battle between the two parties until a single mini-break in favour of the Larsson
turned the whole set in her favour.
The second set witnessed an exchange of breakpoints in the opening two games before a series of serve holds were witnessed. Scores moved to 3-3 before the local star icon broke serve to take the lead in the set. It was that time
when the Belarusian tennis ace decided to walkout from the encounter due to illness and handed over the win to her Swede age-fellow.
Larsson won 66 points in total that included four successful breakpoints as well. Her rival bagged 59 points featuring three breakthroughs out of the allotted four. However, Govortsova was struggling right from the start and couldn’t
entirely focus on the match. She was the favourite to win the contest but her health didn’t assist her in that phenomena.
In a post-match interview, Larsson stated, “It was very difficult out there with the wind and the cold weather, but I'm very happy to get through. It's nice that everyone's so positive and happy that I'm back here. I have very
good memories from last year."
Larsson squares off against the third seed Spanish star, Anabel Medina Garrigues, in round two.
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