Marion Bartoli strains through Polona Hercog to reach the third round – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
Current world number seven, Marion Bartoli of France, had a rough ride against the 21-year-old Slovenian competitor, Polona Hercog, in the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open on Friday. The 27-year-old veteran finally stamped
her authority over the game after sweating hard for two hour and five minute, settling the final scores at 5-7, 6-2, 6-1, in her favour.
The enthralling contest witnessed great courage and determination from the 38th ranked Hercog, who outshined Bartoli in the opening set of the match. She claimed the first set after a stiff contest but then it was an
all-French show, with Bartoli dominating every second of it. She raced through the games quickly and reeled off the last two sets to register her 14th victory in the 2012 WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) season.
Bartoli maintained her clean sheet against Hercog, nailing her down for the fourth consecutive time to lead 4-0 in the head-to-head series against her. She outplayed the Slovenian earlier this year at the Apia International Sydney
and carried on her winning ways in the Friday’s contest to earn a place in the third round.
"I didn't win the first set, but she was really playing some good tennis at that time, so credit to her," Bartoli said. "She was taking a lot of risks and hitting the ball early and really hard. I'm glad I could play better and
better as the match went on - the second and third sets were really high quality tonight."
Bartoli’s first serve reached merely 58 per cent precision in the match and she spilled out 11 doubles faults, six of which were conceded in the opening set alone. She took the better of her opponent by converting eight out of
11 break opportunities in the contest, whilst Hercog could register just four out of six serve breaks to finish on the losing side in the end.
Bartoli will meet the other surprise competitor from Romania, Simona Halep, in the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open. The unseeded Halep outplayed the 32 seed Russian, Nadia Petrova, in the second round battle to book a clash
with Bartoli.
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