Kaia Kanepi escapes defeat against Timea Babos to reach the quarter-final – e-Boks Open 2012
World number 34, Kaia Kanepi, faced some real tough time against the unseeded Hungarian opponent, Timea Babos, in the second round of the e-Boks Open, being played in Copenhagen, Denmark. The fifth seed Estonian came out victorious
after three gruelling sets, settling the final score line at 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(2) to book a spot in the quarter-finals of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International Tour event.
The 26-year-old veteran battled for two hours and 31 minutes of play to register her 8th victory of the running season. She had been in prime form this year, winning the season-opening Brisbane International title in
January and is looking strong in her Copenhagen campaign as well. She was tested to her limits by the 18-year-old Hungarian, who dumped the Japanese veteran, Kimiko Date-Krumm in the opening round. Babos dropped the opening set after a stiff contest but came
out firing at the fifth seed opponent in the following set to draw the scores on level terms. The decisive third set went to the wire and a tie-breaker round came into play; Kanepi won the decider to wrap up her hard-fought victory in style.
"It was a difficult and really long match," said Kanepi after defeating the Hungarian teenager in their first ever singles encounter on Wednesday. "Timea played really well and pushed me all the way. Thankfully I played a really
solid tie-break, cut down the errors and came through. Spending two and half hours on court is tiring, but I'll be ready for my next match."
Not much difference was witnessed in the overall match stats of the two players but it was just a matter of time that Kanepi bagged the all-crucial points to conclude victory. She fired 12 aces and coughed six double faults in
the matchup, winning 50 out of 63 points on her first serve to take the better of Babos, who could secure 43 out of her 64 first serve points in the matchup. Both competitors struck five serve breaks apiece in the contest.
Kanepi’s opponent in the quarter-finals will be the winner of the second round match between the third seed Jelena Jankovic and Yulia Putintseva of Russia.
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