Magdalena Rybarikova trashes Eva Birnerova to clear round one – Baku Cup 2012
World number 114, Magdalena Rybarikova, trashed the 110th ranked Czech, Eva Birnerova, in the opening round clash of the Baku Cup at the hard courts of Baku.
It was easy straight sets triumph 6-1, 6-1 for the 23-year-old Slovak who outshined the 27-year-old Czech in just 61 minutes. Moreover, both players were just separated by 13 points with the Slovak trailing at 600 points. So, technically
it was an upset but there was not much between the two players and the Slovak will be ranked higher by the end of the tournament after this triumph.
Birnerova was seeded eighth in the tournament and expected to reach the quarter-final stage of the event at least but she couldn’t even give a tough test to her first rival and just managed to win two games throughout the encounter.
Rybarikova commenced the match with a serve hold after a bit of scare and doubled the lead in the following game that witnessed a comprehensive breakthrough. The following game was easy to hold for the Slovak tennis star and she
moved on to lead the scores 3-0.
Finally, a serve hold for the Czech starlet allowed her to get off the mark and avoid a possibility an embarrassing bagel that looked to be on the cards after a thumping start from the Slovak. However, it was the only game that
was bagged by the eighth seed Czech who lost another breakpoint in the sixth game to trail 1-5 and couldn’t break serve back in the final game of the set.
The start to the second set wasn’t good at all for the Czech who drowned to a trail of 0-4 at the start. The Slovak won two breakpoints on course to an unassailable lead of 4-0 and successfully held her serve comprehensively to
keep the pressure intact.
With just one more serve hold for the Czech starlet in the match, the Slovak contender crossed the winning barrier and booked a date with the Thai tennis professional, Tamarine Tanasugarn. She is expected to win the second round
match as well and move on into the quarter-finals of the tournament.
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