Kaia Kanepi slaughters Sung-Hee Han in opening round – KDB Korea Open 2012
Seeded third in this event, Kaia Kanepi devastated the local wild card entrant, Sung-Hee Han, with a bagel at the KDB Korea Open Tennis Championship 2012 on Tuesday. She notched up a 6-1, 6-0 success against the world number 264 to breeze into the second round at this outdoor hard court event held in Seoul, South Korea.
The Estonian number one showed flawless tennis to crush Han in just under an hour at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International-level tournament. As a result, Kanepi comfortably secured a place in the round of 16 and inched closer towards her third year-to-date title.
Kanepi stormed into the Seoul Olympic Park Tennis Center. She fired powerful forehands and backhands to reel off five games in a row. After Han came on the score sheet for the first time in the sixth game, the Estonian kept her serve again and clinched the opener with a breadstick. She amazingly dusted away all four breakpoints she came across and converted two out of four break chances to her advantage.
The 27-year-old perfected her ways in the following set. She maintained her intensity and stroke out all six games consecutively. Kanepi held her entire serves without facing any real challenge and cashed in all three break opportunities to pocket the bagel.
Summing up performance of the world number 16, Kanepi spilled more unforced errors but fired four aces to cover it up. She manipulated a better first serve share of 56 per cent in contrast with the Korean’s 40 per cent and magnificently availed 21 out of 25 points on it.
Kanepi will lock horns with Kazakhstan’s Galina Voskoboeva who also crippled a local wild card entrant with a breadstick to set up this meeting. Voskoboeva showed brilliant abilities and subsequently recorded a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Hyun-h*i Hong.
The fifth seed, Julia Goerges from Germany, faced a bitter fate. She was crashed by Spain’s Silvia Soler Espinosa in a brutal three sets and eventually exited the tournament with disappointment. The German star made quick in-roads after pulling out the opening set with a breadstick. However, she lost her track afterwards and ultimately suffered a 6-1, 6-7(5), 2-6 loss.
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