Makarova/Tatishvili oust Mattek-Sands/Mirza in opening round – Western and Southern Open 2012
Russian-Georgian tandem, Ekaterina Makarova and Anna Tatishvili, stomped over the American-Indian duo, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sania Mirza, in a three-set thriller at the Western and Southern Open 2012 on Tuesday. They summed up a 2-6, 6-1, 10-8 victory
against their opponents to progress into the second round at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Five event held in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Russian-Georgian pair made an epic comeback from a set down to carve out the victory with a breadstick. They required one hour and four minutes stealing the limelight and advancing into the second round at this outdoor hard court tournament taking place
from 11th to 19th August.
Mattek-Sands and Mirza thundered into the Lindner Family Tennis Center. They drew the first blood in the second game to cruise to a 3-0 lead before their rivals could come on the score board. They plucked their remaining serves with self-assurance and cashed
in another break chance in the last game, clicking the opener by winning six games to two. The American-Indian pair brushed off both breakpoints they came across and converted two out of six break opportunities to their advantage.
The Russian-Georgian collaboration made a stunning reply in the following set and got the critical break in the opening game to take the initial lead. Despite losing their edge in the very next game, they unleashed flurry of groundstrokes and stroke out
the proceeding five games in a row. Makarova and Tatishvili failed to block the only breakpoint they faced but cashed in four out of eight break chances to pull out the equaliser with a breadstick.
The match could have gone in any direction but Makarova and Tatishvili carried their rhythm in the match tie-breaker. They prevailed in it and subsequently clinched the decider with a 10-8 score line.
Overall, Mattek-Sands and Mirza spilled five double faults and clobbered a poor first serve share of 57 per cent as opposed to their rivals’ 76 per cent. They broke the Russian-Georgian’s serve three times but were broken four times.
Makarova and Tatishvili will square off against the eighth seeds, Slovenia’s Katarina Srebotnik and China’s Jie Zheng, in the round of 16.
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