Kaukonen/ Suomalainen battle past Glushko/ Lim in quarterfinal – OrtoLaakarit Open 2011
Finnish couple of Leia Kaukonen with Piia Suomalainen flabbergasted higher ranked duo of Israeli Julia Glushko with French Alize Lim in the quarterfinal of the OrtoLaakarit Open 2011
The two squads took up the challenge on the hard courts in Helsinki, Finland. This is an ITF Women’s Circuit and after just one hour and eighteen minutes the Finnish pair got rid of the higher ranked Israeli/ Frenchwoman by surviving
a mid match lapse of 6-4, 5-7, 10-4 on Thursday the 24th of November 2011.
Glushko/ Lim initiated the opening round as they had won the service toss and both the squads got off to a great as they held their respective serves for the first four games to tie the score at two games each. The two crews then
traded in breaks during the fifth and the sixth game to eventually balance the score at three games each.
As the two teams matched an eye for an eye the score tied for the last time at four games each by the end of the eighth game. However, the Finnish couple got the desiderated break in the ninth game and as they served for the last
time in the tenth game, they smashed a beautiful crosscourt shot to secure the opening set with a 6-4 victory.
The Finnish couple nosedived immediately in the following set and this time they were unable to muster the numbers. Mean while, Glushko/ Lim made a tremendous return as they took a notch higher in their performance.
Moreover, the Israeli/ Frenchwoman capitalized on four breakpoints even though, they were unable to save any. The higher ranked duo of Glushko/ Lim again commenced the second set and this time they got off to a bad start as they
were not only able to hold their first serve but instead endorsed three early breakpoints to their adversaries.
On the contrary, Kaukonen/ Suomalainen reeled off five consecutive games to take a mini lead of five games to love at the end of the fifth game. The two crews bartered in breaks during the fifth and the sixth game and it was the
first time that Glushko/ Lim bagged a game.
From there onwards they capitalized on three successive games gifted to them by their adversaries and completely eradicated their deficit to tie the score at five games each by the end of the tenth game.
However, Glushko and Lim held their serve for the last time in the eleventh game and then capitalized on a desired break in the twelfth game to squander off with the second.
At the end of the two sets, each team had bagged a set apiece and eventually the match had been shoved into a super tiebreaker. The head-to-head run came to an abrupt end as Kaukonen/ Suomalainen rushed past their opponents to
clog the super tiebreaker at 10-4. The Finnish couple sealed their victory of the match and reserved a spot in the semi final.
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