Kai-Chen Chang advances with an unexpected victory at Barcelona Ladies Open
Sixth seeded Taipei Kai-Chen Chang found winning ways at Barcelona Open and after warding off late resistance from the second seeded Italian Maria Elena Camerin, she advanced into the main draw. The 20-year-old registered a 6-2, 7-6(4) victory over the Italian in final round of qualifiers of the 2011 Barcelona Ladies Open on Sunday.
Chang had an eight match losing streak before entering this tournament. However, she re-focused her strategy before arriving at David Lloyd Club Turo and won her first game of this season. The Taipei trashed French wild card Sophie Lefevre with a breadstick in the first round of qualifier.
Ranked 147th in the WTA Premier rankings, Taipei downed Camerin, who is ranked 24 places above her, in one hour and forty-five minutes in the final round of qualifiers. She displayed exceptional skills in their first duel and dominated throughout the match.
The 29-year-old Italian on the other hand has exited from qualifiers or opening round matches from all tournaments she entered. Being a second seed, she received a bye into the final qualifying round but she played poorly throughout the match. Camerin had a lower first share and clobbered 16 double faults. Furthermore, she only saved six out of thirteen breakpoints conceded. Despite losing this match, she managed to advance into the main draw after a participant was injured.
In the opening set, Chang had a much higher first serve share of 64 percent as compared to the Italian’s 31 percent and registered an impressive 63 percent win on it. She committed zero double faults and saved one out of two breakpoints faced. The Taipei also converted three out of eight breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to clinch the set with a convincing 6-2 score line.
On her way into the second set, she got distracted and lost her serve four times. Chang had an acceptable first serve share this time as well but earned a poor 46 percent win on it. She also clobbered two double faults but converted four out of five breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to drag the set into the tie-breaker. The Taipei prevailed in it and earned a straight set victory to advance into the main draw.
The 20-year-old will next face Kazakhstani Yaroslava Shvedova who has also had a poor record this season so far. She had won only two out of her last ten matches and lost to Anastasia Pivovarova in the second round of the Fes WTA event before arriving at Barcelona.
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