Mirjana Lucic defeats Simone Kalhorn to progress into the final qualifying round - Family Circle Cup 2012
Mirjana Lucic of Croatia bounced back a set down to oust the 22-years-old American wildcard entrant, Simone Kalhorn, in the first qualifier clash of the Family Circle Cup. Final scores in favour of the 119th ranked
Croatian were 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.
The contest was played on the clay courts of Charleston, USA and lasted almost an hour and 33 minutes. It was the first face-off between the two players so they were nerves at the start that probably hurt the Croatian more than
the local.
Kalhorn started the match with a serve hold and her rival followed the same pattern. The same phenomena was repeated once before an exchange of breakpoints took place that took the scores to 4-3 in favour of the local. A crushing
breakthrough in the following game consolidated her lead to 5-3 and she didn’t make any sort of mistake to hold her serve and bag the set with ease.
It seemed like crowd was on the verge of witnessing a majestic comeback. The 30-years-old Croatian was under the cosh but she replied in supreme fashion. The first four games of the second set were played with caution before the
local contestant couldn’t handle the frustration and committed several unforced errors; dropped a couple of serve games in succession that gifted her rival the second set.
The Croatian commenced the third set in emphatic fashion; allowed just one game to her opponent before bagging three breakpoints on the trot. She didn’t make any mistake on her serves and bagged the final set with ease. There was
no pressure being applied on her and the local contestant saw her dreams of marching ahead being shattered in the opening qualifier.
Lucic won 93 points compared to 77 of her opponent. She converted five of the allotted 12 breakpoints and smacked three aces in the match that helped her cause to book a berth in the final qualifying round. She will take on the
likes of Estrella Cabeza Candela of Spain for a shot at the main round spot. It will be another classic battle between the two talented stars.
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