Kristina Mladenovic stole the show at the Taipei Ladies Open – Tennis Special
French starlet, Kristina Mladenovic, conquered her entire opponents to rule at the OEC Taipei WTA Ladies Open 2012 last week. She conquered the local star, Kai-Chen Chang, in straight sets to capture her maiden career title at this first WTA (Women’s Tennis
Association) 125 event held in Chinese Taipei.
Mladenovic saw a disappointing season on the WTA tour this year. However, she got the breakthrough two months ago when she cruised to the semi-finals through qualifiers at the Bell Challenge in Quebec City, Canada. The French devastated America’s Melanie
Oudin with a bagel before bowing out to eighth seed Lucie Hradecka in brutal straight sets at this WTA International event held in indoor hard courts.
The 19-year-old entered this carpet court event standing at number 98 in the WTA Premier Rankings. She was coming off from opening round defeat at the Poitiers ITF event (lost to Italy’s Nastassya Burnett). However, Mladenovic re-focused and triumphed over
the Israeli contender, Julia Glushko, in three sets in her opening match.
Seeded fourth at this event, Mladenovic carried her rhythm and overpowered the Thai challenger, Nudnida Luangman, in three sets to enter quarters.
Mladenovic went berserk in her last eight battle against sixth seeded Kimiko Date-Krumm and ultimately pulled out the victory with a bagel in just under an hour to progress.
In the semi-finals, the French teenager maintained consistency in her game. She lost the second set but remained focused, eventually sealing the deal with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 score line in two hours and 16 minutes.
The French teenager’s skills were fully polished in the final showdown. She dropped her serve once but cashed three out of 12 break chances to formulate a 6-4, 6-3 victory against fifth seeded Kai-Chen Chang.
Mustering her day further, Mladenovic carried her rhythm in the doubles event. Seeded top in the doubles event with Hao-Chin Chan, the French starlet bounced back to outshine second seeds, Chang and Olga Govortsova, in a three-set thriller.
The beaming French was quoted in a courtside interview after capturing two titles:
"It's the first time I get two titles at a WTA event - it's been a great week and I am very happy! In the doubles final we were down, but I told Hao-Chin we just have to play point by point and the game is not over yet. We played really hard each point and
believed in ourselves until the end. I'm so glad with the result."
As a result, Mladenovic not only captured her maiden career WTA title but also a doubles title. She gained confidence boost and climbed to the world number 76.
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