Mathilde Johansson shows her class at Grand Prix De SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem – Tennis Special
French rising star, Mathilde Johansson, displayed her best tennis at the Grand Prix De SAR Lalla Meryem 2012, a WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International-level tournament held in Fes, Morocco. She exited from the final qualifying
round but took advantage of the lucky loser spot as she breezed into the final four of the tournament.
Seeded third in the qualifying competition, Johansson stormed into this tournament and crushed Spain’s Estrella Cabeza Candela with a breadstick in her opening qualifying match. She made quick in-roads in the final qualifying round
and bagged the opening set with a 7-5 victory against Arina Rodionova of Russia. However, she stepped off gas after that and eventually suffered a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 shock.
The Sweden-born Johansson was looking forward for her next tournament in Estoril. However, after Ekaterina Makarova pulled out of the tournament 11 hours prior from the start of the event, she secured a first round spot.
The French lucky loser entered the main draw of Royal Tennis Club de Fes as a completely different person. She slaughtered the local wild card entrant, Nadia Lalami, with double breadsticks to set-up a date with the Israeli number
one, Shahar Peer. Johansson lost the opener against the eighth seeded Israeli but unleashed flurry of flat groundstrokes to pull out the victory in a three set thriller. The French showed tremendous defensive skills as she swept away 11 out of 17 breakpoints
she came across. On the other hand, she capitalised on eight out of 11 break opportunities to formulate a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Ranked 90th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Johansson let her spark lit in her quarter-final clash against the third seed, Petra Cetkovska of Czech Republic. She was broken down four times but cashed in six out of 12 break
opportunities to jolt down a 6-3, 6-4 score line in one hour and 19 minutes. The French fully capitalised on 10 double faults her Czech competitor spilled and impressively availed 20 out of 37 points on her higher first serve share.
"I don't think I played my best tennis today as I was tense playing against my practice partner," Johansson was quoted after her match against Cetkovska. "We share the same coach, and I think these matches against someone you know
well can be difficult. I was happy to come through and hopefully I can improve in the semi-finals."
The 27-year-old secured a place in the semi-finals after this victory and was bidding to become the first lucky loser to reach final since Melinda Czink at the Canberra WTA event seven years ago.
Johansson nervously entered at the Moroccan clay courts and suffered the opening set with a breadstick against Spain’s Laura Pous-Tio. However, she stayed focused and made a fitting reply in the second set, carving out the equaliser
with a 6-2 win. Despite failing to block both breakpoints faced in the final set and bowing out to the Spaniard, she sent out warning to all top class players in the tennis world.
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