Laura Pous-Tio cripples Irina-Camelia Begu to enter semis – Fes WTA 2012
Spanish contestant, Laura Pous-Tio, devastated Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu with a breadstick at the Grand Prix De SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem 2012 on Thursday. She penned down a 6-4, 6-1 victory against the Romanian to cruise
into the final four at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International-level tournament held in Fes, Morocco.
Pous-Tio showed tremendous skills to outsmart the Romanian for the first time in their fourth meeting. After earning the limelight in one hour and 15 minutes, she not only avenged her defeat at the Bucharest WTA event last season
against the world number 56 but also breezed into the semi-finals.
"It was a tough match," Pous-Tio commented in a court-side interview. "I lost three times to her last year but this time I came in very focused and tried to be very solid from the baseline and also be aggressive when I could on
the forehand and I was very successful with this game plan."
The Spanish veteran nervously entered the Royal Tennis Club and suffered the first blow in the second game to fall at 0-2. However, she held her nerves after that and not only recovered in the very next game but swiped in remaining
serves with conviction. Pous-Tio got the breakthrough in the seventh game and pocketed the opener by winning six games to four.
Ranked 110th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Pous-Tio maintained her intensity in the following set. After Begu held her serve in the opening game, the Spaniard unleashed her skills and stroke out the proceeding six games
in a row. She held her entire serves without facing any breakpoint and cashed in three out of four break chances to pull out the set with a breadstick.
Overall, the 27-year-old lost her serve once but capitalised on five out of eight break opportunities to steal the show. She also produced a drastic first serve share of 48 per cent as compared to Begu’s 73 per cent but impressively
availed 16 out of 21 points on it.
Next up for Pous-Tio is the French lucky loser, Mathilde Johansson, who stunned third seed, Petra Cetkovska, in straight sets to set-up this battle.
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