Mariya Koryttseva defeats Nuria Vives in the second round qualifiers of the Andalucia Tennis Experience
The crowd at Marbella, Spain, was in for another upset as the home favourite Nuria Llagostera Vives crashed out of the second round qualies of the Andalucia Tennis Experience at the hands of Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine. Koryttseva took down the second seed,
Vives in three sets, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, in two hours and seventeen minutes on Sunday night.
The Spaniard failed to clear the test of nerves in the contest and collapsed after winning the opening set of the match. Koryttseva made a brilliant comeback from one set deficit in the game and reeled off two sets to conclude a three set victory for herself.
25-year-old Ukrainian had defeated Vives in their previous encounter back in 2008 qualifying rounds at Vina del Mar.
Vives’ serve was bleak in the contest, reaching just 50 per cent mark and committing eight double faults. Her opponent exceeded her error count with 10 double faults in the game but delivered 70 per cent first on target, collecting 38 of 64 points on it.
Koryttseva’s sluggish start pushed her onto the back foot right from the beginning and five double faults from her racquet exacerbated her position in the set. Although the Ukrainian delivered her first serve with great accuracy, she was broken twice by
Vives and was left trailing at 4-5. The Spaniard had the opening set to her name at 6-4 by winning 80 per cent points on her first serve.
The confident second seed was taken by surprise in the next set as Koryttseva came out firing at her and clinching 11 out of 17 first serve points. She suffered a serve break from Vives in the third game but retaliated with the same in the next to nullify
her advantage. Koryttseva then launched a series of attacks to the opponent’s courts, belting a number of powerful winners down the line and stretching the Spaniard to her limits. Vives crumbled under the immense pressure and the Ukrainian struck two more
break points to bag the second set at 6-2 and bring the contest on even terms.
Stunned by the dramatic turnaround in the second set, Vives kept losing her focus in the game and conceded three costly double faults early in the third set. She regrouped at a time to hit two serve breaks but Koryttseva bounced back with three crushing
break points to close victory for herself. To the dismay of the local crowd, Koryttseva finished off the third set at 6-4 and dispensed out Vives from the Andalucia Tennis Experience.
Koryttseva will take on the qualifying sixth seed Romanian, Irina-Camelia Begu in the final round of the qualifying draws. The Romanian won her second round match against Julia Glushko of Israel in straight sets, 6-4, 6-0 to meet Koryttseva.
Tags: