Mariana Duque-Marino dumps Olga Puchkova to qualify for the first round – Swedish Open 2012
World number 117, Mariana Duque-Marino, eased past the 24-year-old Russian professional, Olga Puchkova, in the final qualifier of the Sony Ericsson Swedish Open, contested in Bastad.
Marino was the third seed contestant in the qualifiers and expected to power down 177th ranked Russian easily. She did that in style; winning the match in straight sets 6-4, 7-5.
It was the third head-to-head battle between the two players and the 22-year-old Colombian had won the previous two battles as well. She took an hour and 43 minutes to round off the final qualifier clash at the clay courts of Bastad.
Puchkova commenced the match with a comprehensive serve hold. She had her opponent under the cosh in the following game; had a chance to break serve to couldn’t capitalize on that and squandered the opportunity to stamp her authority
early in the match.
Both players held their serves with ease in the following two games and the scores moved on to 2-2. In the following game, Puchkova’s serve was broken to love and the Colombian had her first successful attack on the Russian.
However, the overconfidence let Marino down as she lost a breakpoint in the following game. Both players swapped breakpoints in the following two games as well and the scores moved on to 4-4.
The following game brought another successful breakthrough for the third seed Colombian who took the lead of 5-4. She was tested in the 10th game of the match but did well to survive the onslaught and register a set
lead in the match.
Puchkova started the second set in miserable fashion; droping the breakpoint without winning a single rally in the game. She couldn’t win any point in the following game and the scores moved on to 0-2.
However, a slight comeback witnessed a serve hold that lifted a lot of pressure off the Russian. Both players went on to hold serves until 4-2 and swapped breakpoints to push the scores at 5-3.
A swap of breakthroughs gave an opportunity for the Colombian to win the match with a serve hold and she did exactly the same. Next up for the Colombian can be Shahar Peer, Klara Zakopalova, Sandra Roma or Kateryna Bondarenko;
depending on the draw.
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