Mandy Minella to open the 2013 season at Shenzhen Longgang Gemdale Open – Tennis News
Mandy Minella enjoyed a topsy turvy season that witnessed some breakthrough performances coupled with some disappointing losses. However, she managed to squeeze her way up to the 66th rank in the world by the start of
September before dropping down to world number 77 by the end of the season. She will look to capitalize on the good work and make sure that her performance at the year-opening event, the Shenzhen Longgang Gemdale Open 2013, infuses a layer of hope for a better
run in the season.
Minella couldn’t qualify for the main round of the Brisbane International this year and failed to do that in the Apia Sydney International as well. She lost in the opening round of the Australian Open that hinted at another unsuccessful
season for the 27-year-old Luxembourgian.
However, she turned around her luck at the Whirlpool Monterrey Open and reached the quarter-finals after dispatching a seeded player along her way. She had a rough patch for the most of the clay court season; lost in the qualifiers
at Miami, opening round of Charleston, second round at Grand Prix De SAR and the first round of Budapest.
She got into the main round at Strasbourg courtesy a lucky loser pick but couldn’t make use of the opportunity and lost in the first round. Her major breakthrough came at Bad Gastein where she smothered away two seeded players
along her way into the semi-final of the tournament. She was up against the second seed wildcard entrant, Yanina Wickmayer; fought extremely well but lost a close match with the final scores of 6(3)-7, 3-6.
Baku Cup also witnessed a quarter-final exit for the experienced Luxembourgian who stunned everyone at the US Open in New York by reaching the third round of the tournament. However, the hype was soon cut short by her disappointing
show at Guangzhou, Tokyo, Beijing and Luxembourg.
It will be interesting to see if the 77th ranked Minella can learn from her mistakes from this season and breakthrough to the elite category of Top-50 players by the end of 2013. It will be difficult for her but not
impossible considering her talent and style of play.
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