Klara Zakopalova outshines Garbine Muguruza to enter round two – KDB Korea Open 2012
Seventh seeded Czech, Klara Zakopalova, battled past the Spanish contender, Garbine Muguruza, in a three-set thriller at the KDB Korea Open Tennis Championship 2012 on Tuesday. She summed up a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(1) victory against the world number 106 to power into the second round at this outdoor hard court event held in Seoul, South African.
The Czech seed re-ignited her spark in the final set tie-breaker and eventually sealed the deal in two hours and one minute at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International event. As a result, Zakopalova edged in the head-to-head series by 1-0 against the teenager and booked a place in the round of 16.
Zakopalova made a thunderous entry at the Seoul Olympic Park Tennis Center. She broke Muguruza’s opening serve and took the initial lead. The Czech lost her serve in the very next game but broke again to go 2-1 up. Apart from losing her edge again, Zakopalova remained focused and held her remaining serves with poise. She got the breakthrough in the seventh game and eventually clinched the opener with a 6-4 score line.
The 18-year-old carrier her losing ways in the following set and after suffering the first blow in the third game, she fell at 1-3. However, the Spaniard unveiled her true form after that and with the help of two breaks of serve, she closed out the equaliser by winning six games to four.
In the final set, both contestants played exceptional tennis. After exchanging four serve breaks, the set went to a tie-breaker. However, the world number 27 went berserk in it and ultimately clicked the decider with a 7-6(1) success.
All in all, the 30-year-old took full advantage of 10 double faults her opponent spilled. She clobbered a poor first serve share of 49 per cent in contrast with the Spaniard’s 60 per cent but impressively availed 30 out of 48 points on it.
Up next for Zakopalova is Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova who dumped the Japanese veteran, Kimiko Date-Krumm, in straight sets to set up this meeting. The Slovak cashed in five out of 11 break chances to formulate a 6-4, 6-3 score line.
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