Melanie Oudin sidelines Heather Watson in the first qualifier – Family Circle Cup 2012
A major upset of the day was witnessed at the clay courts of Charleston, USA when the 20-years-old Melanie Oudin outfoxed the 19-years-old Briton, Heather Watson, in the opening qualifier of the Family Circle Cup. It was a battle
that lasted for two hours and 35 minutes before the local grabbed a win 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
Watson reached the third round of Miami earlier this season; ousting the Romanian beauty starlet, Sorana Cirstea, and 27th seed Czech, Lucie Safarova, before bowing to the top ranked Belarusian, Victoria Azarenka.
It clearly shows that she was in epic form and wasn’t going to do down easily but Oudin proved everyone wrong and clinched a special win to her name. It was the first win for the American in her last nine matches; failing to grab
any triumph in the recent past, Oudin started the match with a ‘nothing to lose’ mindset that immensely helped her cause.
Watson was broken in the first game of the match that set the tone for the American. Oudin continued to hang on to that lead until the fifth game of the set when she won another breakthrough and doubled the difference of scores;
leading the show 4-1. An exchange of breakthrough kept her lead intact before Watson powered down her to win another break. Scores tickled over to 5-4 in favour of the local.
A thumping serve hold at the end confirmed the first set triumph for the local and eased a lot of pressure on her. The second set witnessed a complete turnaround in the proceedings. Watson twisted the direction of the play in
her favour and ousted her opponent; winning a couple of breaks on the trot that gave her an unassailable lead of 5-0. Just one game for the local and her opponent won the second set.
The final set was lead by the local until the eighth game. She broke her opponent in the second and sixth game but couldn’t hang on to the lead. However, she fought well and earned another breakthrough that ended the match proceedings
in her favour.
Oudin plays Petra Rampre of Slovenia in the next round.
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