Marina Erakovic routs Anna Tatishvili in the second round – Family Circle Cup 2012
Kiwi 17th seed, Marina Erakovic, escaped the scare in the second set of the Family Circle Cup to reach the third round of the tournament on Wednesday. Her opponent was the 22-years-old Georgian, Anna Tatishvili, who
fought extremely well but bowed down to the Kiwi after a battle of an hour and 31 minutes. The final scores were 7-5, 6-3 for the 45th ranked Kiwi starlet.
World number 45 started the match with a serve hold and tested her opponent to the limits but squandered a couple of breakpoints that kept the scores together at 1-1. Surprisingly, she wasn’t able to win a single point in the following
game that registered the first breakthrough of the match.
A majestic upset was on the cards. No player won any breakpoint in the following six games of the set. Tatishvili was under the cosh in the eighth game but saved three breakpoints to keep the lead intact. She just needed to register
a serve hold in the 10th game to win the set but Erakovic constructed another opportunity to break serve. This time around she didn’t spoil the chance; kept the set alive and levelled the scores at 5-5.
Erakovic escaped the scare in the following game after losing two points early in the game. She switched the pressure back on her opponent and took full advantage of the situation, bamboozled the Georgian with her drop shots and
won another breakpoint that rounded-off the first set proceedings in her favour.
Both players stayed focused to the task and registered serve holds upfront to start the second set. However, the Georgian contestant lost concentration for a while; allowed her opponent to take control of the proceedings and lost
the pivotal serve game. The Kiwi starlet enhanced the lead to 4-1 with an easy serve hold that mounted pressure on her rival.
There were no more breakthroughs throughout the set that led to the downfall of the 80th ranked Georgian contender. Erakovic won the match and inched one step closer to the title triumph. She will take on the fifth seed
American, Serena Williams, in the next round.
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