Mirjana Lucic edges past Heidi El Tabakh into the round two – Bell Challenge 2012
Croatian qualifier, Mirjana Lucic, came back from the jaws of defeat to oust an unseeded player from Canada, Heidi El Tabakh, in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5) in the first round of the Bell Challenge in Quebec City, Canada on Tuesday.
Lucic clichéd this hard fought victory after a tough battle of two hours and nine minutes.
Both players started the contest in a steady manner, as they did not drop their serve in the first nine games to take the score to 5-4 in favour of Lucic. Serving to stay in the set at that moment, Tabakh faltered under pressure
to lose it and go down 4-6.
The Croatian contender banged in a couple of aces but she also committed twice of that number of double faults. In comparison, Tabakh’s aces were same at two but she made equal number of double faults. Lucic’s first serve percentage
was merely 59 percent but she succeeded in capturing 14 of the 16 points on them.
Both players held their opening serve to level the score at 1-1 in the second set. Tabakh hit blows to her opponent in the third and fifth game, racing to a 5-1 lead. Lucic tried to close the gap by winning two back to back but
the Canadian did not miss her second chance to close out the set, capturing it 6-3.
Tabakh neither hit any ace nor committed any double fault in the second set. The Canadian had a brilliant first serve percentage of 83 but managed to win just 10 of the 19 points on them. The 25-year-old gave her best performance
on the second deliveries and returns, as she won all the four and eight of the 11 points on them respectively.
The Canadian contender started with a 3-0 lead over Lucic in the final set but the Croatian participant clawed her way back to equalise the proceedings at 5-5. The set was taken to a tie-breaker later on, where Lucic grabbed a
late mini-break and made the most of it to win 7-6(5).
The Croatian contestant will play either Dominika Cibulkova or Kirsten Flipkens in the second round.
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