Lauren Davis stuns Petra Martic to book a spot in round two – BNP Paribas Open 2012
American teenager, Lauren Davis, squashed the Croatian tennis ace, Petra Martic, in the opening round battle of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday. It was the biggest upset of the day as the 221st ranked American squashed
the 55th ranked fatigued Croatian in straight sets 6-2, 7-6(7) in an hour and 41 minutes.
The wildcard entrant started the match in stylish fashion; delighting the crowd with her ability to come up with some eye-startling returns. She broke serve in the fourth game and took lead of 3-1. Martic was a bit tired having
played a couple of matches on a single day on Sunday during the BMW Malaysian Open. She went down 5-2 and lost another breakpoint in the following game that completely demoralized her.
Martic was looking extremely disappointed at her efforts but it wasn’t her fault alone. She went through such a hectic schedule recently and came to this tournament with less than 100 per cent fitness. Nothing should be taken away
from the 18-years-old Davis who played extremely well throughout the contest.
The American started the second set with a comprehensive serve hold and went on to take a lead with a breakpoint in the fourth game. She was running away with the show when the scores were 5-3 in her favour but her opponent fought
back in a ‘do or die’ situation to win a break back and diminish the trail. The Croatian held her serve to tie the scores at 5-5.
There was a hint of a possible comeback from the finalist of the Malaysian Open tournament earlier this week as the scores moved on to 6-6. A tie-breaker round was enforced that witnessed an early mini-break for the American that
was diminished with a reverse mini-break from Martic during the eighth rally.
However, the Croatian lost another mini-break to her opponent that led to her downfall. She leaves the tournament in the opening round. Davis booked a date with the Russian tennis icon, Nadia Petrova, who received a first round
Bye. All the high seed players received first round Byes in the tournament including the defending champions, Caroline Wozniacki.
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