Madalina Gojnea upsets Jill Craybas to reach the final qualifier – Roland Garros French Open 2012
Romanian starlet, Madalina Gojnea, denied the 37-year-old American, Jill Craybas, from becoming the oldest player in the main round draw of the Roland Garros French Open on Thursday. She stole a win in straight sets 7-6(5), 6-4
and reached the final qualifying stage of the year’s second Grand Slam tournament.
Gojnea started the match in dismal fashion; lost the opening serve game and gifted a two game lead to the 136th ranked American. However, she bounced back in the match by winning the following two games courtesy a breakthrough
in the fourth game.
The scores kept ticking over before the Romanian fell back in the scores courtesy to another breakpoint for the American veteran. She was trailing 4-5 in the set before fighting her way back in a ‘do or die’ situation; refraining
the American from running away with the show.
Scores were tied at 5-5 and successive serve holds pushed them to 6-6 with a tie-breaker round brought into action. The experience Craybas couldn’t help her cause and her opponent clinched an early mini-break that confirmed her
first set upset.
The second set started with three successive breakthroughs that were occupied in the ratio of 2:1 to the Romanian. She was the first player to hold her serve and consolidate the lead to 3-1. A double swap of breakpoints pushed
the scores to 5-4 in favour of the Romanian who just needed to hold serve and register the biggest upset of the day.
World number 208, Gojnea, was getting ready to reverse the breakpoint flow and look for the third serve hold of the set. She did that in style winning four out of five points. Craybas left arena with a smile on her face; greeted
the 24-year-old Romanian on her triumph and wished her best of luck for the rest of the tournament campaign.
Madalina Gojnea will square off against the top seed Dutch booming starlet, Kiki Bertens, in a clash for a spot in the main round of the French Open. Bertens is in emphatic run of form but Gojnea can register an upset if she plays
well.
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