Misaki Doi overpowers Prerna Bhambri in the opening round clash – Royal Indian Open 2012
Second seeded Japanese contender, Misaki Doi, posted a thumping straight sets victory over the local wildcard entrant, Prerna Bhambri, in the opening round of the Royal Indian Open on Tuesday. The 21-year-old youngster took barely 55 minutes to settle the final score line at 6-0, 6-2, to reach the round of 16 at the inaugural edition of the WTA Challenger Series event in Pune, India.
The Japanese contestant was absolutely belligerent in the contest, dominating every second of the match and brutally crushing the local hopes. Bhambri proved to be no match for the might of the 21-year-old Japanese and could bag merely two games in the entire contest. She was all over the place and couldn’t meet Doi in any segment of the game, suffering a humiliating defeat in front of her home crowd.
97th ranked Doi was facing the Indian opponent for the first time in her professional career and took no time in getting under her skin. She was off to a flyer in the opener, breaking Bhambri in her every single serve game and rocketing away to a 6-0 lead within a blink of an eye. She delivered 73 per cent of her first serve on target, dropping just two points on it and won 18 out of 29 return points on her opponent’s serve. She converted three of her five break opportunities, whilst the Indian underdog couldn’t go even near to a break point in the first set.
Things didn’t change in the following set either and the second seeded Japanese broke Bhambri’s serve right away to lead 2-0. The Indian contestant finally held her serve for the first time in the third game but another cracking break of serve from her superior ranked rival completely crumbled her confidence. Doi sealed the second set at 6-2, marking an end to Bhambri’s campaign at the Royal Indian Open and booked herself a place in the pre-quarter-final round of the tournament.
Doi will face the unseeded Thai participant, Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, in the second round brawl later this week. Lertcheewakarn was successful against the Israeli opponent, Julia Glushko, in the opening round on Tuesday.
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