Kateryna Bondarenko pounds Carina Witthoeft to clear the opening round – Swedish Open 2012
World number 87, Kateryna Bondarenko, ousted the 309th ranked German qualifier, Carina Witthoeft, in straight sets 6-2, 7-6(5) to reach the second round of the Sony Ericsson Swedish Open, contested in Bastad, Sweden.
On Tuesday, both players locked horns at the clay courts for the first time and the 17-year-old German commenced the proceedings in a negative fashion. She sunk to a trail of 0-3 at the start after dropping two straight breakpoints.
However, she recovered for the time being with a breakthrough in the fourth game but just to see her serve broken in the following game. It was a terrible beginning for someone who is very young at the professional circuit.
Bondarenko continued to exert pressure on her competitor and piled up a majestic lead of 5-1 after a comfortable second serve hold of the set. She was very close in rounding off the first set proceedings with a breakpoint in the
seventh game but the German teen did well to hang on and keep the set alive.
However, the resistance didn’t last long as the Ukrainian held her serve with ease in the following game and eased away to a lead of one set. Trailing one set down and failing to capitalize on her serves, Witthoeft was thought
to fall off early in the second set as well but the German teen had other plans.
The second set commenced with serve holds at both ends before a trade of breakthroughs took place. Both players capitalized on their serves in the following four games to push the scores at 4-4. The 25-year-old Ukrainian broke
serve and looked set to win the match in the 10th game but the German teen showed immense courage to stay up and fight her way back in the contest with a breakthrough.
No drama was witnessed in the following two games and the crowd witnessed the first tie-breaker round of the match afterwards. In that final round of play, the German teen took an early mini-break at the start but lost four points
on the trot that proved to be her downfall.
Everyone was excited to see the 17-year-old German giving a very tough time to the experience Ukrainian who was expected to win the match in under an hour. The German qualifier lasted an hour and 18 minutes in the first round of
the tournament before bowing out after an epic match-up.
Bondarenko contests her next match against the seventh seed German, Mona Barthel.
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