Kristína Kučová avenges her loss against
Alize Lim in 1st round – Slovak Open 2011
Unseeded Slovak Kristína Kučová thrashed unseeded Frenchwoman Alize Lim in three sets during the first round of the Slovak Open 2011.
On Wednesday the 16th of November 2011 the two challengers clashed against each other on indoor hard courts of the Národné Tenisové Centrum in Bratislava, Slovakia. It took the unseeded Slovak a mere one hour and thirty
one minutes to outdo the unseeded Frenchwoman by flogging her in straight sets of 6-4, 6-4.
This was not the first time the two were meeting and were well aware of each other’s style and performance. The first time they had taken up the gauntlet was on clay courts in 2010 at the Kharkiv 3 event which is held in Ukraine
and emerging victorious was the Frenchwoman.
The last time they met was on clay courts of Andrezieux which is held in france and once again the Frenchwoman had flabbergasted the Briton. In winning the second match against her rival, she took the lead in the head-to-head series
at 2-0.
The first round of the match was opened by Lim and she got off to a great start as she was able to bag two successive games to take a mini lead at the end of the second game. However, Kucova made a return by immediately breaking
back in the next game and then with a hold of serve, she equalized the score by mitigating the deficit at two games each.
Subsequently, both the players we able to hold their respective serves and by the end of the sixth game, each player had bagged three games each. As they then matched an eye for an eye the score tied for the last time in the eighth
game at four games each.
However, in the ninth game Lim double faulted on her serve and gifted away a crucial game to her adversary (Kucova), who then held her serve to clog the opening set with a 6-4 victory.
The second set was again commenced by Lim and this time both the players were able to bag a game each and placed themselves on the scoreboard at 1-1. In the following two games the two challengers traded in breaks and the score
tied at two games each.
However, it was in the fifth game that Kucova had capitalized on another breakpoint and then held her serve to take the lead by clogging to consecutive games. By the end of the sixth game the score had shifted to 4-2 with Kucova
leading the set.
Subsequently, neither player wanted the other to take the lead and once more the two bartered in breaks which resulted in Kucova being only a game away from her victory. However, she was unable to close the match immediately in
the next game but managed to so in the tenth game.
In winning this match Kucova was able to avenge her loss against her rival and will now be facing Russian qualifier Daria Gavrilova in the second round of the tournament.
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