Krista Hardebeck outplays Taylor Townsend to move into the final – Australian Open (juniors) 2012
American teenager, Krista Hardebeck, cruised into the title match with a win over Taylor Townsend, ranked two places below her, in straight sets 7-6(3), 6-4 during the Australian Open (juniors) tournament on Friday. She was the one who dumped the top seed, Irina Khromacheva, in the quarter-final and stays firm in her hunt to win the junior Grand Slam title.
Both players were facing-off each other for the first time and the experience factor was obviously going to play its part. The inferior ranked American was just 15-years-old and still had enough to learn to make sure that she could cruise into the title match. Townsend did well to oust two of the seeded players, Anett Kontaveit (third seed) and Sabina Sharipova (twelfth seed), in the third round and quarter-finals respectively.
Hardebeck, on the other hand, had trounced on three seeded players before making it to the semi-final of the tournament. She dumped Saisai Zheng (ninth seed) in the second round, Karolina Anna Schmiedlova (eighth seed) in the third round and then the top seed Khromacheva. Anything could have happened at the courts with the two underdogs fighting for the place in the title match.
Townsend started the match in a grand fashion, breaking her opponent’s serve and doubling the lead in the second game. Hardebeck fought back immediately to level the scores at 2-2 with a successful break point conversion in the fourth game. The remaining games were slightly less entertaining; both players hanging on to their respective serves to enforce a tie-breaker round. Momentum kept swinging in the set but the superior-ranked American kept plucking crucial points to inch closer to victory.
Both players traded serve breaks in the second set before the 426th ranked American, Hardebeck, bagged a crucial break point to retain the initial lead. It seemed like Hardebeck would run over with the show but her compatriot on the other end fought back in the eighth game and broke serve to level the scores at 4-4. Stage was set for another tie-break round but the guile of Hardebeck outdone her younger rival in the tenth game; she broke serve and booked a berth in the title match.
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