Petra Cetkovska routs Shahar Peer in round one – Barcelona Ladies Open 2012
World number 28, Petra Cetkovska, escaped a scare in the opening round clash against the 54th ranked Israeli, Shahar Peer, in the Barcelona Ladies Open on Monday. She won the first set with ease but was pushed to limits
in the following two sets. Final scores were 6-1, 5-7, 7-5.
It was her first head-to-head triumph in the three encounters played between two players. This battle lasted for a fraction over two hours and 24 minutes. Everyone in the arena was thrilled by the proximity of the game style of
both players. Despite fighting hard the Israeli player couldn’t register an upset against the sixth seed Czech.
The first set was totally dominated by the superior ranked contestant. She broke serve in the fourth game to take a lead and than doubled it with a stunning display in the sixth game of the match. The scores were 5-1 at that stage
and the Czech starlet was getting ready to round off the opening set proceedings in the following.
Cetkovska was tested in the final game but managed to register a serve hold and grabbed the first set. Peer won 22 points compared to 34 of her competitor. The major factor that led to her downfall was the poor conversion rate
of her first serves that was low as 44 percent.
However, the second set was much more entertaining and belonged to the right person. Both players swapped breakpoints in the starting phase of the set before repeating the same phenomena towards the end. Scores were kept together
at 5-5 and Peer sneaked a serve hold in the pressure situation. Despite having mammoth experience under her belt, the 27-years-old Czech failed to hold on to her serve in the most crucial stage of the match and donated the second set triumph to her rival.
The final set was ruled by the sixth seed Czech who broke her opponent thrice on the trot to take a resounding lead of 5-2. Peer stayed focused and kept the set alive with a breakthrough in the eighth game and repeated a miraculous
performance in the 10th game as well. Scores were tied at 5-5.
Cetkovska was under the cosh but she clinched the most critical breakthrough in the ninth game and dropped a couple of points in the following game before bagging the match. She will take on the winner of the match between the
Italian qualifier, Annalisa Bona, and the Spanish player, Carla Suarez Navarro.
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