Nikola Hofmanova downs Iveta Benesova to advance into second round – NURNBERGER Gastein Ladies 2011
Local wild card entrant, Nikola Hofmanova earned a surprise victory over the fourth seeded Czech Iveta Benesova in the NURNBERGER Gastein Ladies 2011, a clay court tournament held in Bad Gastein, Austria. She was leading 7-5, 3-2
when the seed retired due to right knee injury, giving Hofmanova a second round spot.
Ranked 317th in the Sony Ericsson WTA Premier rankings, Hofmanova earned a 7-5, 3-2 retirement victory over the Czech, ranked 273 places above her, in one hour and ten minutes on their first meeting. Benesova felt severe
pain in right knee when she bounced back in the second set to lower the trail by 2-3 and eventually retired.
The Austrian nervously entered the court to face the fourth highest ranked player of the tournament but convincingly held her opening serve in the first game to take the lead. She then found the coveted break in the third game
but could not hold on to the lead as she lost her serve in the fourth game. Hofmanova then put her head in front again by breaking Benesova’s serve in the eighth game but to her dismal, she lost the advantage in the proceeding game again. The local entrant
then converted another breakpoint opportunity to her advantage in the twelfth game to clinch the opener with a 7-5 score line.
The local entrant carried the same spark in the final set. She not only held her opening serve but got the desiderated serve in the very next game. Hofmanova then held her serve in the third game to take a 3-0 lead before the Czech
bounced back to win next two games in a row.
Overall, the Austrian committed fewer double faults and clobbered a higher first serve share of 58 percent as compared to Czech’s 48 percent. She also registered an impressive 77 percent win on it. Hofmanova put cherry on the set
by cashing in half of the eight breakpoint chances to her advantage to win comfortably.
"It's amazing, I don't even know what to say, and against a Top 50 player it's just amazing," the beaming Hofmanova said. "It was a strange match because there were so many unforced errors, but I think I kept the ball in the court
more often. It went pretty well for me, but I wish Iveta a fast recovery from her injury."
Up next for the happy wild card entrant is the winner of the match between her compatriot, Melanie Klaffner and Bulgarian qualifier Dia Evtimova. If she maintains consistency in her game, she can definitely move far in this $220,000
event.
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