Noppawan Lertcheewakarn breezes past Kristyna Pliskova into main draw – HP Japan Open 2011
Fourth seeded Noppawan Lertcheewakarn got the better off seventh seeded Kristyna Pliskova by surviving a mid match crisis in the final qualifying round of the HP Japan Open 2011. The players had battled for two hours and twenty
three minutes on outdoor hard courts of the Utsubo Tennis Center in Osaka, Japan until finally the fourth seeded Thai scored 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4 against the seventh seeded Czech on Monday the 10th of October 2011.
Lertcheewakarn opted to serve first as she had won the pitch and she was expertly able to handle her first serve. Pliskova got off to bad start as she was unable to win a game on her serve and she sanctioned a game to Lertcheewakarn,
who took a mini lead of 2-0. The Thai further increased the gap to 3-0 by holding her serve in the third game. In the following two games the players won on alternate serves to rotate the scoreboard at 4-1.
Pliskova was not ready to go down without a fight and she took a notch higher by utilizing the serve-break-serve technique and tied the score at 4-4. In the following two games the score progressed on even terms at 5-5 and then
eventually at 6-6 the set was pushed to a tiebreaker.
During the tiebreaker Lertcheewakarn took a lead of 2-0 and with a series of breaks and hold the players kept battling it out until eventually Lertcheewakarn rolled past her adversary to clinch a 7-5 score and bagged the opening
set.
Serving for the second set was Pliskova and both the players held their serves for the first three games. This time it was Pliskova, who took the lead by capitalizing on a break and as she held serve in the fifth game, she further
increased the gap to 4-1. Lertcheewakarn shifted gears and managed to close in on the deficit by utilizing the serve-break-serve technique and by the end of the eighth game the score was again tied at 4-4. In the last two games Pliskova held serve and as
Lertcheewakarn double faulted, she game the set point to the Czech.
By the end of the first two sets the each player had bagged a set. Opening the decisive set was again Pliskova and the two players held serve. In the following two games the scoreboard again tied at 2-2 as the players broke each
other back-to back. The score progressed on even terms as the players held serve and by the sixth game, the scoreboard had levelled at 3-3. The toe-to-toe run moved well into the set and once again the score was balanced at 4-4.
During the last two games, Lertcheewakarn forced an error off her opponent and as she served for the match, she smashed a marvellous crosscourt shot to secure a place in the main draw of the event.
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