Nicole Gibbs upsets Yulia Putintseva in Girls’ Singles quarterfinal – US Open 2011
The first upset of the junior girls’ quarter finals was between the sixth seeded Yulia Putintseva and the un-seeded Nicole Gibbs. The players battled it out on show court 11 of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
American Nicole Gibbs bounced back from a set down with 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 score in two hours and 19 minutes.
The toss was won by Grace and the two players won on their respective serves in the first two games. In the third game Putintseva broke Gibbs for the first time, and in the fourth held her serve to take a lead of 3-1. During the
following three games Putintseva broke Gibbs serves two more times and won the set in the seventh game by holding her own.
The first set was an easy victory for the number six seeder, as she smashed an ace and a winner to win the set. After being bruised blue and black in the first set, Gibbs pulled her socks up and eventually won the second set.
Opening the second set was Putintseva, as she broke Gibbs in the second game for the first time; Putintseva held her serve in the third to take the lead at 3-0. Gibbs held her serve for the first time in the fourth game and broke
her opponent in the fifth game and was now only a break down at 2-3. During the seventh and the sixth game the players broke each other back to back and in the eighth game balanced out the score at 4-4. Gibbs broke the number six seeded for the last time to
take a lead at 5-4 and eventually as she was serving for the set point she bagged the set with a difference of almost twice as many points as her Russian adversary’s.
The two players had won a seat each and were now playing for the determining set. Opening the set was again Putintseva, who clinched a game on her serves and then went on to break her opponent in the second. However, Gibbs was
not to let Putintseva take the lead and broke back in the following game and by holding her serve in the fourth game equalized the score at 2-2. She took the lead when she broke her opponent again fifth game and then went to hold her serve in the sixth game.
At this point, in a reversal of fate Gibbs was two breaks up and as she broke her opponent for the last time she secured her victory in the sixth game.
Qualifier Nicole Gibbs was able to secure a berth in the semi final of the girls’ singles event and will be facing her compatriot Grace Min.
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