Marion Bartoli beats Carla Suarez Navarro in the quarter-final – China Open 2012
World number 10, Marion Bartoli, won the quarter-final contest against the 46th ranked Spaniard, Carla Suarez Navarro, on Friday. She clinched the win in three sets with the scores of 6-0, 2-6, 6-4 to book a spot in
the last four of the China Open at Beijing.
After an emphatic start, the 28-year-old French lost her way completely and was trailing by 0-3 in the final set before bouncing back to avoid an upset. It was a gruelling battle that lasted almost an hour and 45 minutes; swirled
from one player to another throughout but the desired outcome was achieved by the ninth seed French in the end.
In a post-match press conference, Bartoli confessed, “After losing the second set and being down 3-0 in the third it was hard to find a way to win, but I'm so happy I fought hard and was able to find a way. Obviously it's great
for me to be in the semi finals of such a big event. And it's great to play against Vika again - she's the World No.1 and it's going to be a very big challenge, but I'll just go out there and try my best tomorrow.”
The opening set witnessed no hurdle at all for the number one Frenchwoman who scuttled past her opponent with a stupendous lead of 4-0 upfront. No resistance in the final two games of the opening set allowed Bartoli to register
a bagel and hint at an early finish to the quarter-final clash on Friday.
However, the comeback from the 24-year-old Spaniard was mind-startling. She broke serve in the second game of the set and retained the lead courtesy a swap of breakthroughs. With no drama until the end of the seventh game, Navarro
led the scores 5-2 and forced her opponent to hold serve in order to keep the set alive. Bartoli failed to do so and lost the set phase of the clash.
Navarro won a breakpoint in the second game of the final set. She held her serve to make it 3-0 in her favour. It seemed like the 46th ranked Spaniard will run away with the show after a pathetic start but the timely
comeback from her opponent who broke serve in the fifth game and equalized the scores to 3-3 with a serve hold. A trade of breakpoints coupled with another breakthrough for Bartoli ended the encounter in her favour.
Marion Bartoli faces Victoria Azarenka in the semis.
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