Marion Bartoli eases pass Alexandra Panova in 1st round – US Open 2011
After the go ahead was given by Hurricane Irene, French Marion Bartoli opened her run at the 2011 US Open as she took on Russian Alexandra Panova in her opening round matchup. On the hard courts of USTA Billie Jean King National
Tennis Center, the players duelled to secure a berth in the second round. Eighth seeded Bartoli saw a comprehensive victory with a 7-5, 6-3 victory in one hour and 52 minutes.
Meeting for the first time, both were unfamiliar with each other’s style and technique but Bartoli standing at world number 9 has an experience of playing the top 5 players. Thus, serving first with a strong forehand Bartoli
opened the scoreboard at 1-0. From there onwards both the players were winning on their serves till the first five games. The first person to break was Bartoli as she was eagerly looking for an upper hand but in the next serve Panova also broke her rival and
the score equalized at 4-4. The two repeated the feat until the score card tied for the final time at 5-5 in the eleventh game Bartoli held her serve and with extreme care was able to crush her opponent for the final time and served the set at 7-5.
The first set was a marathon that lasted for a walloping 73 minutes and although, Bartoli had struck seven double faults, she was still able to steal the set away. The crowd cheered for Bartoli as she was favoured amongst
them both.
The second was opened by Bartoli again and this time she broke her opponent in the following game to take the lead at 2-0, eventually by the fourth game Panova realized that if she didn’t score a game she would be packing
up and leaving, so she finally won a game and in the fifth game broke Bartoli’s serve to equalize the score at 3-3 by the sixth, Bartoli won on her serve and went on to breaking her opponent’s serve at a very crucial point in the set but as she won the break
point, she was also able to hold her serve in the ninth game and came out as the last man standing.
Bartoli was easily able to advance into the second round and will now be facing American Christina McHale.
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