Karolina Pliskova locks Tamaryn Hendler run in the second qualifier – Roland Garros French Open 2012
World number 121, Karolina Pliskova, kept her calm in the second qualifier of the Roland Garros French Open against the 19-year-old Belgian, Tamaryn Hendler, and won the match in straight sets 7-5, 6-3.
It was the second successive win for the Czech star this year against the Belgian, who has not been able to ride her luck at all. The contest were pretty even for the first half but the drop in confidence increased the number of
enforced errors committed by Hendler that wiped off all her chances of reaching the main round of the year’s second Grand Slam tournament.
Pliskova began the match in emphatic fashion; bagged eight out of first 10 points and registered an early breakthrough that gave her a resounding lead of 3-0. However, she was put under pressure by her competitor in the fifth game
but she managed to save a breakpoint and hold on to her serve. The lead was kept intact for quite some time as the scores moved to 5-3.
The Czech starlet was just a serve hold away from taking the first set but the Belgian bounced back into the contest and broke her serve to 30:40 that diminished the trail as well. She smashed three winners in a row to post a thumping
serve hold and tie the scores at 5-5.
Suddenly, the pressure was back on the Czech but Pliskova did well to hold on to her serve and converted the second breakpoint opportunity in the following game to win the set. It was a remarkable turnaround in the proceedings
with the deserving player running away with the show.
Both players started the proceedings of the second half in cautious fashion. The scores kept ticking over with neither player being tested on her serve except on couple of occasion when each player squandered an opportunity to
break serve.
Scores moved on to 4-3 with Hendler serving the following game. She lost grip of her serves and failed to generate the same amount of pace. Pliskova took advantage of this and broke serve to 30:40 coupled it with a commanding serve
hold to win the match.
Karolina Pliskova is set to take on the 126th ranked British teen, Laura Robson, in the final qualifier.
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