Mervana Jugic-Salkic stuns Eva Birnerova in the qualies – Budapest Tennis Grand Prix 2012
Seeded at number two in the qualifying draw, Eva Birnerova, had a shocker in the qualifying competition of the Budapest Tennis Grand Prix, falling to the unseeded competitor from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mervana Jugic-Salkic, on
Sunday. The 31-year-old veteran wrapped up her surprise victory in straight sets, 7-6(3), 6-2, to earn a spot in the main rounds of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International event in Budapest, Hungary.
The 114th ranked Czech contender cleared the opening round of the qualifying draw with commanding ease but had a real rough ride in the final round to let the Bosnian opponent through. She faced early resistance in the
match but hung in the contest to move on neck-to-neck with Jugic-Salkic. The opening set was dragged into a tie-breaker round and the second seeded Czech crumbled in the intense pressure situation, managing to secure just three points in the decider to lose
the set number one. With the opener under her belt, Jugic-Salkic went all guns blazing in the following set and rocketed to victory by sparing just two games to the second seeded opponent.
Jugic-Salkic took one hour and 45 minutes to formulate her stunning victory and marched into the main draw of the clay-court event. She delivered merely 54 per cent of her first serve on target but clinched 20 out of 38 points
on it to come out as the winner. The unseeded Bosnian converted six out of nine break opportunities in the match, whilst her Czech opponent registered four out of eight break points to finish on the losing side in the end.
The action was ignited right from the opening set, with both contenders exchanging a break point each in the sixth and seventh games to draw the scores at 4-4. A further trade of four successive break points was seen in the following
games and the scores were deadlocked at 6-6, enforcing a tie-breaker round into play. The decider also went to the wire initially and both players held their serves to reach 3-3. A sudden shift in the momentum was seen after that and Jugic-Salkic bagged four
consecutive points to propel her way to 7-6(3), bagging the opening set to get one up.
The Bosnian carried on her onslaught in the following set as well, racing away to 3-0 early and Birnerova was found struggling at 2-5 in the opening 20 minutes. A decisive serve break in the eighth game concluded the match in Jugic-Salkic’s
favour and she will face the Hungarian qualifier, Melinda Czink, in the main round of the Budapest Tennis Grand Prix.
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