Lucie Safarova slays Mirjana Lucic to reach round three – Family Circle Cup 2012
Ninth seed, Lucie Safarova, devastated the Croatian star, Mirjana Lucic, with a bagel at the Family Circle Cup 2012 on Wednesday. She jolted down a 6-2, 6-0 victory against the world number 119 to secure a place in the round of 16 at this green clay court event held in Charleston, South Carolina.
The Brno native showed her top notch performance to oust Lucic in straight sets in their first meeting. After earning success in this 57-minute clash, Safarova edged in the head-to-head series by 1-0 against the Croat and convincingly advanced into the pre-quarters at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier event.
Safarova highly enthusiastically entered the Family Circle Tennis Center and held her opening serve to square the scores at 1-1. After Lucic slid her serve in the third game, the Czech unleashed flurry of groundstrokes to go on a five-game tear and sealed the opener with a 6-2 win. She swiftly swiped in her entire serves without facing any trouble and capitalised on two out of seven break opportunities to earn the fame.
Ranked 26th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Safarova went into the savage mode in the following set. She earned the coveted break in the opening game and later maintained her force, consequently cashing in all three break opportunities to pull out the set with a bagel. Mustering the set further, the Czech was never threatened with any breakpoint and she smashed three aces to keep her serves.
All in all, the left-handed Czech produced a better first serve share of 59 per cent as compared to Lucic’s 49 per cent and superbly clicked 20 out of 23 points on it. She also fully capitalised on six double faults the Croat committed and ended the match with 61 points.
Up next for the Czech is the Canadian star, Aleksandra Wozniak, who warded off early resistance to overpower Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in straight sets. The Canadian lost her serve twice but cashed in four out of 15 break opportunities to register a 7-6(5), 6-2 success. She spilled more errors but smacked three ferocious aces to cover it up.
Tags: