Maria Martinez Sanchez, Carla Suarez Navarro clear the first round –
NURNBERGER Gastein Ladies 2011
Spanish tennis pro Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez earned a hard fought 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4) victory over Paula Ormaechea of Argentina to book her place in the second round of 2011 NURNBERGER Gastein Ladies in Bad Gastein, Hungary.
The match was played on an extremely competitive note and it lasted for more than 2 hour and 26 minutes. Both sets were decided through tie-breakers after some high quality and gripping tennis was displayed by the contestants.
However being the more experienced, Sanchez handled the pressure absolutely brilliantly as she ended the match in straight sets.
Sanchez started off very slowly in the match. Miss timing her shots on a number of occasions, she looked a bit out of sorts early in the opening set. Suffering two serve breaks, she trailed the game score 5-1. However, she regrouped
herself at that stage and made a phenomenal come back to even the score at 6-6 as the set went into the tie-breaker. Showing remarkable clay court skills, she outran her opponent to lead the set score 1-0.
The second set followed a very similar trend as both players exchanged several serve breaks. Leading the game score at 5-3, Sanchez had a great chance to seal the match but Ormaechea stayed firm as she inflicted heavy blows on
the Spaniard to force the second set into a tie-breaker as well. Showing no signs of nerves, Sanchez blasted her gorgeous forehand and backhand winners all over the court to ensure her win in straight sets.
Sanchez put up a very good all round performance against a quality player. She had to work for her points and she showed great temperament on the court. However to achieve similar results against other top seeded players at the
competition, she will have to work ever harder. Winner of three WTA titles, Sanchez is having a very average time on the tour this season. She will be hoping to maintain her current level of play to lift her first WTA title of the year.
Meanwhile, another Spanish player Carla Suarez Navarro moved into the second round with a superb 7-6 (7), 6-2 over Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova.
Navarro took some time to settle down in the match as she clinched the opening set in the tie-breaker. However, in the second set, she picked up her game play and broke her opponent three times to end the match in style. She will
be facing compatriot Arantxa Parra Santonja in her next match-up at the tournament. Santonja defeated Olga Govortsova 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (5) to set up this meeting.
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