Mallory Burdette and Irina Camelia-Begu qualifies for the first round – Generali Ladies Linz 2012
Amazing scenes were witnessed at the hard courts of Linz, Austria when the 156th ranked American, Mallory Burdette, dispatched the 57th ranked Romanian star, Irina Camelia-Begu, in straight sets 6-4, 6-1 to
book a berth in the main round of the Generali Ladies Linz on Monday. However, the 79 minutes conquest of the 21-year-old American didn’t break heart of the year elder Romanian rival who was awarded an entry into the first round as a lucky loser.
Both players broke each other’s serve at the start of the contest before a serve hold for Burdette settled the atmosphere. However, Begu couldn’t find her stride in the contest and failed to hold serve in second straight game that
gifted a lead of 3-1 to her rival. Burdette made no mistake in building on to that lead and registered another serve hold to make it 4-1.
The Romanian was in desperate need of a breakthrough to keep the scores together. She held her serve in the sixth game and managed to win a breakpoint back to lower the trail. Another hard fought serve hold for the 57th
ranked Romanian helped her to equalize the scores at 4-4. However, an onslaught from her rival in the following two games ended the opening set with a breakpoint. It was a terrible performance from the Romanian who entered the qualifying round as the top seed
contender.
The second set was more terrible for the 22-year-old Romanian who failed to hold serve in the second game and went down to a trail of 0-3. It was a terrible start for someone who has been in sublime run of form in the recent past
having won her first Women Tennis Association title in the previous tournament she took part, the Tashkent Open.
Burdette carried the momentum further and grabbed another breakpoint in the sixth game of the set that gave her a mammoth lead of 5-1. It was just a matter of time before the American 21-year-old confirmed her place in the main
round. She was under the cosh in the following game but didn’t panic and sneaked a serve hold to close down the contest.
Mallory Burdette plays Yanina Wickmayer whilst Irina Camelia-Begu locks horns with Catalina Castano in the opening round.
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