Melanie Oudin stuns Sorana Cirstea in round one – AEGON Classic 2012
Biggest upset of the AEGON Classic tournament took place on Tuesday when the American qualifier, Melanie Oudin, stunned the 10th seed Romanian, Sorana Cirstea, in a thrilling three-setter. She bounced back a set down
to post the scores of 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Ironically, the 208th ranked American had won the previous two encounters between the two players but they were played two years ago. She won the match in the Hopman Cup at Perth and thumped the 51st ranked
Romanian to another straight sets crash just a month later in OPEN Gaz De France in Paris.
The opening set witnessed a fiery start for the 22-year-old Romanian who took an early breakpoint in the second game and posted a lead of 3-0 upfront. However, she was rocked backed by the American qualifier with three straight
game triumphs to tie the scores at 3-3.
However, Oudin couldn’t handle the onslaught from the Romanian in the eighth game and lost the breakpoint that gifted the crucial lead to her rival. Cirstea held the serve with ease and cruised away to a set lead.
Trailing one set down, the American didn’t lose heart and continue to fight back. She was rewarded with a quick breakthrough in the fourth game that gave her a resounding lead of 3-1. She tripled her lead with a serve hold and
gusted away to 4-1 in the second set.
Cirstea was thumped hard in the second set and she couldn’t construct an opportunity to break serve; lost the set lead and more importantly entered into a final set thriller in the opening round of the tournament. She had already
witnessed a thrashing defeat in the first round of the French Open at the hands of the Chinese number one, Li Na, so it was an important battle for her to win.
The final set started in emphatic fashion for the 20-year-old American qualifier who gusted away to a lead of 4-0 courtesy a couple of breakthroughs. The Romanian couldn’t make a comeback from that dismal stage and lost another
first round clash.
Next up for the Oudin is the winner of the match between Michelle Larcher De Brito and Bojana Jovanovski.
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