Marion Bartoli thrashes Sorana Cirstea in the opening round – AEGON International 2012
While the top three seeded contenders fall out of the first round of the AEGON International, the number four seed French powerhouse, Marion Bartoli, had no real difficulty in clearing the initial hurdle. The world number nine
absolutely manhandled the 50th ranked Romanian starlet, Sorana Cirstea, in the opening round, disposing her of in twin sets, 6-2, 6-2, to qualify for the round of 16.
The one-sided battle took merely 75 minutes of play, with Bartoli dominating every minute of it. The 22-year-old Romanian proved to be a total mismatch to the sublime form of the French veteran and couldn’t do much to halt her
impetus in the matchup. It was the second time this year that the Romanian has suffered a defeat at the hands of Bartoli, with the most recent one coming in three sets at the Mutua Madrid Open. It was a far easy win for the French contender this time round,
giving her a 2-1 lead over Cirstea in head-to-head series.
With an ordinary serve precision of just 51 percent, Bartoli clinched 20 out of 25 first serve points en route to victory. She coughed eight double faults but they cost her too much, as the other competitor also spilled five to
counterbalance it. Cirstea secured 24 out of 36 points on her first serve but had no answer to five crushing serve breaks from the French veteran. She could come up with just one break point conversion in the entire matchup, frittering away three vital chances
to finish on the losing side in the end.
"I wish every tournament would be on grass," Bartoli said afterwards. "I feel like straightaway my game is really working every time I step on grass. It's a lot easier for me than playing on clay courts."
With the top seed Agnieszka Radwanska, second seeded Czech Petra Kvitova and the number three seed Dane, Caroline Wozniacki, out in the very first round of the tournament, Bartoli is left as the highest seeded player alive in the
race to glory.
"It shows the difference between the top players and those ranked lower is very tiny,” she said about the Top-three contenders being eliminated from the draw. “That's why you had three upsets today. All the players feel they have
nothing to lose every time they play against a top player, so they're bringing the best game they have.”
Bartoli will face the unseeded Canadian, Aleksandra Wozniak, in the second round.
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