Lindsay Lee-Waters and Shengnan Sun advance at the 2011 Estoril Open qualifying round
Lindsay Lee-Waters of United States defeated Israeli Julia Glushko 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 to reach the second qualifying round at the 2011 Estoril Open. With her win on Sunday, the American has set up a meeting with Anastasiya Yakimova
of Belarus in her next match-up.
The match was played on a competitive note as both players exchanged breaks and displayed some high quality tennis. Lee-Waters broke the serve early in the opening set to dent her opponent’s confidence levels. Glushko put up a
brave fight in the set but failed to execute her game plan under pressure and hence paid the price. Lee-Waters claimed the opener with a score of 6-4.
The Israeli tennis-pro, Glushko regrouped herself and bounced back brilliantly in the following set. She looked down and out at the end of first set however showed amazing determination and fighting spirit in the second set as
she broke the serve twice. Glushko smashed her forehand and backhand shots all over the court and made the challenger run for her money. Lee-Waters on the other hand seemed to have lost her concentration as she made a number of unforced errors as the set score
was levelled at 1-1.
Both contestants put up an impressive show in the decider and held on to their serve games. However when the game score was tied at 4-4, Lee-Waters made the crucial serve break to strengthen her position in the contest. The American
then clinched her next serve game to seal the match after 2 hours and 7 minutes of play.
Lee-Waters achieved an impressive 61 per cent first serve conversion while she secured 48 per cent of the points on return. With her aggressive intent she forced her opponent into making mistakes throughout the match. The American
wasted minimal opportunities and converted six out ten break points.
Lee-Water has been struggling to find her form since the start of this season. She has experienced first round losses at several Women’s Tennis Association tournaments in the year 2011. Ranked 183 in the world, Lee-Waters will
be hoping to improve her WTA ranking here on the red clay courts in Portugal with solid and all round performances in her next matches at the tournament.
Meanwhile Chinese Shengnan Sun eased past Local Patricia Martins 6-3, 6-2 on Sunday to advance into the next round of the ATP 250 series tournament.
Sun looked to be in devastating form as she required only and 1 hour and 18 minutes dispatching her opponent. She will face German Eleni Daniilidou in the next round battle. Daniilidou reached the second round with a tight 7-5,
6-7 (2) and 7-5 win over Russian Alexandra Panova.
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