Kristina Mladenovic overcomes Kai-Chen-Chang in the final – OEC Taipei WTA Ladies Open 2012
French teenager, Kristina Mladenovic, had a huge breakthrough on the hard courts of Chinese Taipei when she bagged her maiden WTA championship title on Sunday. The 19-year-old hunted down the home favourite, Kai-Chen Chang, in
the final showdown of OEC Taipei WTA Ladies Open tournament, settling the clash in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, to claim glory.
Seeded at number four in the tournament draw, Mladenovic entered the final battle as the hot favourite but a tough resistance was anticipated from the Taiwanese contender as well. However, it seemed like a one-sided affair all
the way, with the French youngster manhandling Chang in successive sets to come out as the deserving winner. She gave limited opportunities to the fifth seeded Taiwanese opponent and cashed in most of her chances en route to her first title victory.
The opener kicked off with aggressive game play from both sides and an early exchange of break points was witnessed. Chang started to lose her steam in the later parts of the set, creating an opening for Mladenovic to nail a breakthrough.
The 19-year-old gradually generated momentum and shifted her game to more aggressive mode. She cracked a crucial break point to get in the driving seat and comprehensively served out of the opening set at 5-4.
Mladenovic carried on her winning momentum in the following set and stung an early break of serve to attain a 3-1 lead. A couple of successful serve holds took the French teenager to a commanding lead of 5-2 in the set and Chang
couldn’t do much from there to make a comeback in the contest. Mladenovic held her next serve and concluded the second set to seal her championship victory at 6-3.
The overall match statistics didn’t show a great difference between the two finalists. However, the vital difference was created by the number of break points being registered from both ends. Mladenovic had 12 break opportunities
in the match but only three conversions proved sufficient for her to bring down the fifth seed Taiwanese. On the other hand, Chang frittered away seven priceless break points in the match to finish on the losing side in the end.
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