Monica Niculescu ends the voyage of Sania Mirza in round one – Brussels Open 2012
Indian tennis diva, Sania Mirza, failed yet another time to have an impact on the singles draw of a WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) clay court event. She was manhandled by the 34th ranked Romanian tennis ace, Monica
Niculescu, in the opening round of the Brussels Open on Tuesday, falling at 1-6, 5-7, to crash out of the tournament in dismay.
Mirza had announced earlier that she has decided to quit the singles matches and would focus only on her doubles career. The 25-year-old Indian then reversed her decision and entered the qualifying draw of the Brussels Open this
week. She powered her way to the main rounds of the tournament, upsetting two superior-seeded opponents in the qualifiers but her magic didn’t work on Tuesday.
She was brutally thrashed in the opening set of the match to fall on her back foot early. Mirza regrouped in the following set and posted some solid resistance to Niculescu but it all came a bit too late. By the time Mirza got
her eye set in the contest and started to hit the sweet part of the racquet, Niculescu was serving for the match. The unseeded Romanian kept on with her impetus to wrap up a convincing victory in style, advancing to the second round of the Brussels Open.
24-year-old Romanian delivered 71 per cent of her first serve on target and clinched 27 out of 37 points on it to come out as the winner. The vital difference between the two contenders proved to be the break points being registered
from either side. Niculescu again bettered Mirza with five out of eight conversions, whereas the Indian qualifier could barely register two out of her four break opportunities to finish on the losing side in the end. A total of 108 points were played in the
match, with the Romanian winning 63 and Mirza again falling short of it by securing just 45 points.
Niculescu’s victory has booked her a post in the all-Romanian clash against Simona Halep in the second round of the Brussels Open later this week. Halep was successful against the former world number one, Jelena Jankovic, in the
opener.
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