Marion Bartoli outfoxes Kristina Mladenovic to reach round four – US Open 2012
World number 11, Marion Bartoli, continues to impress at the US Open Championship. She defeated the 19-year-old compatriot, Kristina Mladenovic, in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 to reach the third round of the tournament and more importantly
gather some successive victories that will enhance her confident against the top seeded players in the following stages.
The 150th ranked French commenced the match with a serve hold and her opponent followed it up to equalize the scores at 1-1. However, it didn’t take long for the two contestants to tease each other during the return
games. Three successive breakpoints were contested at the hard courts of New York but fortunately for the number one Frenchwoman, she was leading the scores 3-2 and had consolidated it with a serve hold.
The teenager continued to exert pressure on her rival but wasn’t able to extract another breakthrough in the remaining portion of the set. Bartoli was smart to play her trump card in the seventh game of the match that earned another
breakthrough to her. Things looked flowery for the struggling French and she felt relieved by bagging the opening set of the match.
The second set was much more competitive than the first. Both players didn’t allow their rivals to take control of the proceedings until the end of the fifth game. It was the underdog who broke serve first to take a lead of two
games. However, an immediate reply from her compatriot cancelled her lead and a serve hold to Bartoli levelled the scores at four apiece.
Mladenovic was struggling to exert pressure on her rival and the stress of winning the first forced her to commit unforced errors and gift another breakpoint to the 27-year-old compatriot who gracefully accepted it and prepared
to serve for the set.
A serve hold to love for Bartoli ended the encounter in her favour and confirmed her fourth round meeting with the likes of the fifth seed Czech superstar, Petra Kvitova who is in dazzling run of form having won two of her last
three tournaments played at the hard court surface. So, it will be a tough task for the French to see off the Czech.
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