Marion Bartoli crushes the local hope, Jelena Dokic, in the second round – Australian Open 2012
Local crowd at the glorious Rod Laver Arena was in to support their home favourite, 64th ranked Jelena Dokic, but to their dismay, world number nine, Marion Bartoli of France, registered an emphatic victory over her.
The ninth seed French veteran took just 72 minutes of play to wrap up victory in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, advancing to the third round of the Grand Slam of the Asia Pacific, the Australian Open.
The unseeded Aussie competitor proved a piece of cake for the belligerent world number nine, who spared nothing at all for her in the competition. Bartoli bettered her opponent in every segment of the game and gave limited opportunities
to her to have any sort of impact on the match. Her typical two-handed forehands worked perfectly for her, as she registered 15 winners to claim victory.
27-year-old French veteran registered her first break of the night in the fourth game, only to be broken in the very next game. Dokic’s break point conversion levelled the scores at 3-3, with the local crowd sensing a big upset
to follow in the match. Tide turned in the eighth game when Bartoli nailed a crushing serve break to lead 5-3 and then served out of the first set comprehensively at 6-3. After bagging the opening set in an assertive manner, the ninth seed French proved to
be more lethal in the following set and kept on with her aggressive onslaught to exert more pressure on the home favourite opponent.
Dropping the opening set in a dismal fashion; Dokic carried on her losing norms in the next set also and couldn’t focus on her game to recover from the terrible slump. The French stung another break point in the opening game of
the next set and keep pressing the Aussie opponent to commit unforced errors in the match. Dokic coughed 12 unforced errors in the second set and missed out two crucial break opportunities to remain at a disadvantage.
Bartoli held her serve in the remaining games of the set to inch closer to victory. She broke Dokic’s serve in the seventh game to serve for the match and reached her first match point at 40-30 in the next game. With a forehand
return from Dokic’s racquet crashing in the net, Bartoli closed out the matchup at 6-2, marching into the third round of the Australian Open in an assertive manner. She will take on Jie Zheng in the next round clash.
Tags: