Kristina Mladenovic rallies past Wongteanchai into 2nd round – Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge 2011
French Kristina Mladenovic required a third set to tumble over Thai Varatchaya Wongteanchai at the Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge 2011, a women’s tennis tournament on the ITF Women’s Circuit event, held on the hard courts in Dubai,
United Arab Emirates. She formulated a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 victory over the 22-year-old Thai to secure a second round place on Monday.
Standing at world number 179 with 353 points, Mladenovic overwhelmed the resilience posed by the Thai, ranked forty-four levels below her in the Sony Ericsson WTA Premier Rankings, in a three setter tipsy turvy match. Battling
each other for the second time, the Frenchwoman took almost two and half hours to progress into the round of sixteen.
18-year-old Frenchwoman made quick in-roads in the opening set. After Wongteanchai held her opening serve in the second game, Mladenovic went into rage mode to strike out next five games in a row, earning a breadstick in almost
half an hour. She brushed off all breakpoints came across and capitalised on two breakpoint opportunities to her advantage.
The Thai founded the $75,000 track in the second set. Despite losing her serve once, she broke the Frenchwoman’s serve twice to eventually seal the equaliser by winning six games to four. Wongteanchai played considerably well in
this set and through angled shots from her box of tricks, she pulled out the victory comfortably.
The higher ranked French re-focused her style of play in the final set and got the desiderated break early on to take the initial lead. She then maintained consistency in her game and bagged entire serves after brushing off all
breakpoints came across. Her amazing performance led her pocket the decider with a 6-4 win.
Overall, Mladenovic jolted impressive stats as she manipulated a better first serve share, spilled fewer errors and double faults and dominated throughout the match.
The beaming French started the season standing at world number 300 but soon fell seventy-two ranks in the end of January. However, she unleashed her skills afterwards and went on a twelve match winning streak which saw her lifting
titles at Sutton and Stockholm ITF events. Her form dipped afterwards but she raised the bar of her game again at Padova where the Frenchwoman grabbed her third year-to-date title after bouncing back to triumph over Italian Karin Knapp. Mladenovic also made
semi-final berths at Rome-Tevere Remo and Glasgow ITF events before participating here.
Next up for Mladenovic is the winner of the match between seventh seeded Russian Evgeniya Rodina and Italian Maria Elena Camerin.
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