Laura Pous-Tio downs Arantxa Rus to book a quarter-final spot – Fes WTA 2012
Spanish veteran, Laura Pous-Tio, eased past the Dutch challenger, Arantxa Rus, in straight sets at the Grand Prix De SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem 2012, a WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International event held in Fes, Morocco.
She penned down a 6-3, 7-5 victory against the 21-year-old to secure a place in the final eight on Wednesday.
Pous-Tio took down the world number 95 by breaking her rival’s serve six times. After pocketing the match in one hour and 41 minutes, the Spaniard not only avenged her defeat at the Cuneo clay court tournament last year but also
levelled the head-to-head series by 1-1 against Rus.
The 27-year-old made a strong entry at the Royal Tennis Club de Fes and drew the first blood in the opening game to get the upper hand. Despite squandering her edge in the very next game, she broke her Dutch opponent’s serve again
in the third game and jumped to a 3-1 lead. Pous-Tio then swiped in remaining serves with conviction and capitalised on another break chance in the last game to clinch the opener with a 6-3 score line.
Ranked 110th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Pous-Tio lost her track towards the proceeding set and suffered the first blow in the third game to go 1-2 down. She quickly recovered in the next game but lost her serve again,
eventually trailing at 3-5. However, the Spaniard unleashed her skills after that and wiped out the last four games in a row, sealing the set by winning seven games to five.
Overall, the Granollers native produced a lower first serve share of 70 per cent as compared to Rus’ 82 per cent but impressively availed 30 out of 45 points on it.
She will next confront Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu who registered a 1-6, 7-6(4), 3-2 retirement victory against the second seed, Svetlana Kuznetsova.
The fifth seed, Simona Halep will accompany Pous-Tio in the last eight. She lost her serve three times but cashed in six out of nine break opportunities to manipulate a 6-2, 7-5 score line against her compatriot, Alexandra Cadantu.
Halep also hammered two aces and spilled fewer double faults to dominate.
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