Mariya Koryttseva blue rains on Elena Baltacha to move into the second round – Baku Cup 2011
Ukrainian, Mariya Koryttseva, surpassed the Ukrainian born British, Elena Baltacha in the first round of the Baku Cup 2011 at the Baku Tennis Academy, Baku, Azerbaijan. The Ukraine, Mariya won the match in an exciting one hour,
45 minutes and 44 seconds 6-1, 7-5.
Prior to this event both the players had contested against each other once in 2010. Thus not meeting for the first time both the players were familiar with each other’s style and technique. The last time they drew swords at each
other was at the Moscow Cup, where Mariya battled it out on a hard court in the second qualifying round and triumphed 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(3) winning two sets out of the total three played. The Higher Power had granted Elena another chance to even out the score with
her old time competitor (Mariya) at the first round of the Baku Cup on Monday.
First set of the match saw; neither of the players throw an ace, however, Elena’s accuracy seemed to falter and she struck one double fault, hitting the net. She still hung in the match and excellent first serve points (sixty nine
percent) but her first return points was not as strong as her opponents. Then serving second she again performed poorly and was only able to achieve nineteen percent but she came back into the game with good second return points. At the same time her opponent
(Mariya) had maintained consistency throughout her serve and return game along with a strong defense she won the total set points which were fifty nine percent while her opponents were only a below average forty one percent.
By the end of the first set the score card read 1:0 this was the final deciding set of the match as to whether the Ukrainian will win with her lead or will the Briton will come back to avenge her loss; The match did not prove to
be a comprehensive victory for Mariya, instead it was a close tie between both the players. Although Elena managed to keep a mediocre consistency on her serve and return game, her precision seemed to falter and struck four double faults, three hit the net
while the remaining was a line fault and so it seemed the ball was magnetically drawn to the net along with three break point advantage to her opponents advantage. Whereas, the Ukrainian managed to not only just hang in the match she faltered only once on
her serve and gave only two break point opportunities to her opponent.
The match then became a close tie between both the players however, Mariya won the match by winning the set 7-5. Her overall performance in the set was above average and won the set with forty four points out a total of eighty
three while her rival ( Elena) had thirty nine out of eight three total set points.
Summing it up; the 26-year-old Mariya, won the match due to her consistent performance and her defence. She availed the opportunity and beat her opponent not just in this match but also increased her lead in the head-to-head score
to 2-0.
Koryttseva managed to qualify to the second round of the Baku Cup where she will be facing Anastasiya Yakimova from Belarus or Valeria Savinykh of Russia.
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