Karin Knapp ousts Mariana Duque-Marino to reach the first round – Estoril Open 2012
Italian tennis professional, Karin Knapp, defeated the 22-year-old Colombian, Mariana Duque-Marino in a close two-setter 6-3, 7-6(3) to reach the main round of the Estoril Open on Monday. She clubbed her opponent in an hour and 52 minutes, confirming her second back-to-back triumph over the seeded players in the qualifying rounds.
An untraditional start witnessed both players failing to win a single point on their serves. However, they soon settled down and grabbed serve holds to push the scores ahead. Knapp was under the cosh in the fifth game but she saved herself with a tight winner down the line to keep her opponent in check.
The tables were turned upon the Colombian in the eighth game when Knapp broke serve and took a crucial lead of 5-3. Marino had to break serve in the following game to keep the set alive. She failed to do so and lost the opening set in a blink of an eye.
The second set witnessed three back-to-back breakpoints shared 2:1 in the favour of the Italian. However, the younger competitor fought back into the contest with a breakthrough in the eighth game and levelled the scores at 4-4.
Both players registered serve holds in the following two games before trading breakpoints to enforce a tie-breaker round. With massive experience under her belt, the 133rd ranked Italian eased herself into the first round of the tournament. However, it wasn’t an easy win at all as she was tested to her limits by the Colombian booming starlet.
Earlier in the day, Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor defeated Estrella Cabeza-Candela to win the all-Spanish contest in the final qualifier of the tournament. The first round matches were kicked off by the top seed Italian, Roberta Vinci and the Russian wildcard entrant, Nina Bratchikova. The Italian top seed won the opening set comfortably before losing the second battle in the miserable fashion. However, she recovered a break down on two different occurrences in the final battle before confirming her spot in the second round of the contest.
Tags: