Montserrat Gonzalez, Yulia Putintseva sail into the second round in Girls’ Singles – French Open 2011
Seeded eighth at 2011 Roland Garros girls’ singles, Montserrat Gonzalez defeated Slovakian tennis-pro Lucia Butkovs.a in three tight sets to book a second round at the Women’s Tennis Associaiton tournament. The Paraguayan clinched
the firs t set in the tie-breaker. Butkovska made a good come back in the second set but failed to capitalize on the physiological advantage as Gonzalez earned a well deserved victory.
The match was played on an extremely competitive note with both players getting involved in several long rallies. As the score progressed on equal terms, the first set was forced into a tiebreaker. Gonzalez showed no signs of nerves
as she clinched four straight points in the tie-breaker to take the set score lead 1-0. The Slovakian on the other hand reached a mere 45 per cent first serve conversion in the set and let her opponent take control of rallies from the start. She also committed
8 unforced errors as compared to only one made by Gonzalez.
Although Butkovska looked down and out after the first set, she showed remarkable character and fighting spirit to bounce back in the following set. Breaking Gonzalez’s serve three times, she managed to establish herself in the
match. Her first serve conversion was as good as 63 percent while she also dominated the serve return department with a 46 percent share in the points.
In the final set, Gonzalez regrouped herself and did not allow the challenger to breath. She broke the serve at regular intervals and raced to an impassable 5-1 lead in the set. Converting her next service game with ease, she closed
out the match that lasted for more than 1 hour and 55 minutes.
Yulia Putintseva also secured a comfortable 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 victory over Zarah Razafimahatratra to book her place in the second round of 2011 Roland Garros.
Although the Russian struggled with her serve, she was able to make up for that in other aspects of the game. She broke serve five times in the match opposed to only three serve breaks made by the challenger. Playing in the clever
slice, she surprised her opponent every now and then. With her excellent court coverage, she was able to create difficult angles from wide off the court.
Zarah struggled to get any timing on her shots as her forehand and backhand shots landed outside the line on several occasions. Although her first serve conversion was as good as 69 per cent, she paid the price for being impatient
during the contest.
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