Misaki Doi defeated by local Nadia Lalami in the first round of the 2011 Grand Prix SAR
Ranked 497th in the world, Nadia Lalami of Morocco had no trouble in defeating the Japanese tennis professional, Misaki Doi 6-2, 7-5 in the first round match of the Grand Prix De SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem on Tuesday. Lalami took 100 minutes of play to conclude her straight sets victory over Doi to advance into the second round of the tournament. She now moves on ahead to play against Top seed, Aravane Rezai of France in the second round.
It’s the eleventh edition of the Grand Prix tournament and will be contested over a period of seven days at the Royal Tennis Club de Fes in Fes, Morocco . Grand Prix is a part of 2011 Women’s Tennis Association tour and is the only tournament held in Africa.
Given the huge disparity in the rankings, Lalami left everyone in a huge shock of surprise when she won the match against someone who is 373 places higher. Lalami fully capitalized on her height advantage and maintained her lead right from the beginning of the match. The opening set of the match was comparatively easier than the final, where the outcomes were not clear until Lalami delivered her final blow in the twelfth game to emerge victorious in straight sets.
During the whole match, Lalami struck five aces and double faulted seven times. In comparison, Doi committed just two double faults but she couldn’t strike a single ace in the whole match. In the opening set, Lalami perpetrated three double faults, nailed three aces, and had a respectable first serve percentage of 59 as compared to Doi’s 50 percent. Moreover, she saved 100 percent of breakpoints and 33 of 56 points in total to clinch the set with 6-2 score line.
After the first-set loss, the 19-year-old Doi didn’t lose hope and landed 68 percent of her first serves whereas Lalami lagged behind with a difference of thirteen percent. Lalami and Doi, performing at their best, scored a similar conversion rate of 64 percent on their first serves. But the 20-year-old Lalami had already grabbed the momentum and did not let go. She held serves easily and broke the Japanese in the fourth and sixth game to clinch straight sets victory.
Lalami will be facing Aravane Rezai in the next round, Top Seed, Rezai moved past Arantxa Rus of Netherland to reach the second spot at the tournament. In other matches during the day Kirsten Flipkens, Eleni Daniilidou, Alberta Brianti, Dinara Safina and Anastasia Pivovarova reached the second round successfully and will be joining them in second round match ups.
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