Marion Bartoli crashes out to Shuai Peng in the opening clash - Dubai Championships 2012
World number seven, Marion Bartoli, was knocked-out of the Dubai Duty Free Championships on Tuesday, courtesy to a brilliant all-round display from the Chinese tennis ace, Shuai Peng. It was one of the major upsets of the opening round draws. Peng completed her remarkable triumph in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, taking just an hour and 28 minutes to conclude victory.
It was the ninth face-off between the two contestants. The 17th ranked Chinese decreased the head-to-head trail to 4-5 with this victory and booked a date with a the Slovak beauty queen, Daniela Hantuchova, who strained past the Slovenian contestant, Polona Hercog, in a close three-setter.
The initial outbreak from the Bartoli power play lasted the first three games that included a breakthrough in the second game. She led the scores 3-0 before the Chinese pounced back on her and tied the scores at 3-3 with a successful serve in the fifth game.
After a cracking start, Bartoli was shunned back to her shell by excellent shot selection and intelligent game play from the Chinese. She slowed the pace of the game and forced Bartoli to play from the baseline making it hard for the French to generate any pace on the returns.
Frustration kept rising and Peng capitalized on it with a successful breakthrough in the ninth game. She just had to hold her serve in the next game to build a classic foundation for a majestic upset of the tournament. She did that comprehensively, losing just one point on her final first set serve and crashing the French opponent into a despondent state.
Bartoli organized herself in the break and came back strong; breaking her rival’s serve in the second game and taking 3-0 lead at the start of the second set. It was just like a replica of the opening set with Peng fighting back to level the scores at 3-3.
The momentum swirled in favour of the Chinese and she continued to hammer her opponent winning another breakpoint and pushing the scores to 5-3. The French couldn’t handle the pressure and lost another serve game in the most dismal manner; seeing the exits in the maiden round of the contest.
Other victorious contestants on the second day of the tournament include the former world number one, Ana Ivanovic, Simona Halep, Daniela Hantuchova, Lucie Safarova and Agnieszka Radwanska. Dominika Cibulkova retired due to a hamstring injury allowing Iveta Benesova to progress into the second round.
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