Marion Bartoli outshines Vania King in 2nd round – HP Japan Open 2011
Second seeded Marion Bartoli sent American underdog Vania King to the lockers in the second round of the HP Japan Open 2011. On Thursday the 13th of October, the players took up swords on the hard courts of Utsubo Tennis
Center in Osaka, Japan. After a one hour and twelve minutes second seeded Frenchwoman gave a beating to American King in straight sets of 6-1, 6-2.
The last time the two had met was at the Hasonl Korea Open held in Seoul, South Korea. The two had battled it out on outdoor hard courts until finally King emerged in straight sets of 6-3, 7-5.
The second seeded Bartoli settled on serving first for the initial round and she successfully held her serve to open the scoreboard at 1-0. Following at her heels was King, who too held her serve and placed herself on the scoreboard
at 1-1.
The second seed then held serve in the third game and in the fourth capitalized on a breakpoint to take the lead at 3-1. The 27 year-old Bartoli shifted into top gear and utilized the serve-break-serve technique to conquer the
opening set with a breadstick victory.
Although, Bartoli only targeted 58 percent of her first serves, she managed to bag a walloping 73 percent of her first serves. She not only managed to save all her breakpoint but also capitalized on two out of the three breakpoint
chances to reel off with the opening set and was now one up in the match.
King kicked off the second set and the two accomplished to hold serves in the first two games and placed themselves on the scoreboard at 1-1. They again repeated the feat and the score tied at 2-2 by the end of the fourth game.
It was in the fifth game that Bartoli forced an error from her opponent and as she held serve she led the set with a 4-2 score. She powered through the remaining of the set and utilized the break-serve technique to conquer the
set and the match.
Bartoli not only managed to secure a place in the quarterfinal of the event but also avenged her loss and increased the head-to-head score to 3-2.
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