Julia Cohen ousts Alla Kudryavtsev in round two - Baku Cup 2012
World number 134, Julia Cohen, defeated the 141st ranked Russian, Alla Kudryavtseva, in the pre-quarter-final clash of the Baku Cup on the eve of Wednesday. She outsmarted her close ranked fellow contestant in straight sets 6-1, 6-4 to book a berth in the quarter-final of the tournament.
The opening set witnessed a poor start for the 24-year-old Russian who lost the opening serve game and dropped another breakpoint in the fifth game to go down 1-4 in the match.
It was a resounding start for the American player who continued to impress the local crowd with some scintillating display of forehand and backhand winners. She bagged the following serve game to enhance the lead to 5-1 and pocketed the third breakpoint of the set in the seventh game to round off the opening set proceedings.
No one expected such a dismal play from the Russian who was absolutely devastated by the American rival. The second set witnessed a traditional start with both players holding on to their opening serve games.
However, little time was wasted by the American professional in dominating the 141st Russian. A breakpoint in the fourth game gave the lead of 3-1 to the American but a successful breakthrough in the following game lessened the trail for the American who levelled the scores with a serve hold.
Another swap of breakpoints further pushed the scores to 4-4. However, Cohen came on top after a bit of scare in the following game to take a lead of 5-4and force her opponent to hold serve in the tense situation in order to keep the set alive.
Kurdyavtseva couldn’t absorb the pressure and bowed down after losing three straight points in the final game of the match. It was the last of action for the Russian who was supposed to give a tough time to her close-ranked competitor.
Julia Cohen is now comfortably place in the last eight players of the tournament and heads on to the hard courts of Baku on the eve of Thursday to fight a battle against the Slovak contender, Magdalena Rybarikova. It should be an interesting match-up to say the least.
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