Magdalena Rybarikova survives against Jill Craybas in opening round – WANLIMA Women’s Open 2011
Eight seeded Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova rallied past American Jill Craybas after registering a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 success to reach the second round of the WANLIMA Open 2011, a WTA International event held in Guangzhou, People’s Republic
of China, on Tuesday.
World number 72, Rybarikova required three sets and two and half hours to triumph over the American, ranked 45 places below her, on their third meeting. She took revenge for her loss at Tokyo last year and took lead in the head-to-head
series by 2-1 against Craybas.
22-year-old Slovak thundered into the opening set and got the first blood in the opening game to take the lead by 1-0. She then held remaining serves with quick forehands and backhands from her box of tricks and broke again in
the end to clinch the opener with a 6-3 win.
Rybarikova warded off all three breakpoints faced to hold her entire serves and converted two out of three breakpoint opportunities to her advantage. Despite clobbering a poor first serve share of 47 percent as opposed to Craybas’s
55 percent, she registered a spectacular 94 percent win on it.
37-year-old American made use of her long tennis experience to carve her way back in the game in the second set. She failed to save the only breakpoint faced early on in the set but snatched break back to square the scores. Craybas
then converted another breakpoint chance to her advantage in the ninth game and then held her serve in the following game to seal the equaliser with a 6-4 victory. The American also manifested a better first serve share of 58 percent as compared to her rival’s
50 percent and earned a magnificent 80 percent win on it.
The Slovak found her rhythm again and after pinging the balls expertly onto the lines, she stroke out first three games in a row and extended her lead by 3-0. Despite losing her serve in the fifth game, she re-gathered her energy
to reel off next three games in a row to win the decider with a 6-2 score line. Rybarikova produced a drastic first serve share of 40 percent as opposed to her opponent’s 79 percent but saved five out of six breakpoints came across to win easily. She also
cashed in on all three breakpoint chances to her advantage to move in this event.
Next up for the Slovak is the Frenchwoman, Aravane Rezai who trashed Chinese Shuai Zhang in straight sets. Rezai took one and half hour to register a 6-2, 7-6(2) victory over the Chinese after converting four out of eleven breakpoint
chances to her advantage.
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