Lourdes Dominguez Lino dumps Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in round one – BNP Paribas Open 2012
World number 110, Lourdes Dominguez Lino, stunned the 39th ranked compatriot, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, in the opening round clash on Thursday. She dumped her opponent in two hours 15 minutes after a cracking three-setter.
Final scores were 6-3, 1-6, 7-5.
It was a gruelling battle between the two arch rivals who had faced each other on six different occasions. Sanchez lead the head-to-head scores 4-2 but the psychological advantage of more wins couldn’t break down her compatriot
who is 30-years-old.
No one expected that the veteran will last this long in the match and dig deep to nail down the superior ranked compatriot. The opening set was hijacked by the inferior ranked Spaniard who broke serve twice on the trot to take
a resounding lead of 3-0 at the start.
Sanchez fought back to win the breakthrough and diminish the trail but was ousted in the following game that once again enhanced the lead of Lino to three games. It was getting pretty ominous for Sanchez who failed to handle the
onslaught on her opponent.
The second set was completely different from the first. Sanchez took battle to the new levels and came out with an all-round assault; thumping Lino on her serves. She won a couple of early breakpoints to take an unassailable lead
of 4-0 and further enhanced it to 5-1 with another breakthrough.
Sanchez held her serve without losing a single point and sent a strong message to her compatriot that the match was far away from the finishing line. The third set started in the topsy turvy manner. A swap of breakpoints kicked-off
the proceedings with another trade of breakthroughs taking the scores to 3-3.
Spectators were delighted to witness a cracking fight between the two mature athletes. They praised each point played in the last set. The pressure was on the veteran who served the 11th game of the set but she did well
to hold it and transferred the stress back on her compatriot. Sanchez committed a couple of unforced errors and lost a critical breakpoint that gifted the triumph to her opponent.
Lino squares-off against the German tennis icon, Sabine Lisicki, in round two.
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