Petra Martic beats Greta Arn in the opening round – Open GDF Suez 2012
World number 66, Petra Martic of Croatia, dismissed the 76th ranked Hungarian, Greta Arn, in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, in the first round at the Open GDF Suez in Paris on Tuesday. The Croatian took an hour and fourteen
minutes to win the match.
Martic made a great start to the opening set, as she broke her opponent in the first and third game, consolidating on the double break of serve to grab a 4-0 lead. Arn didn’t surrender at that moment and fought back, breaking the
Croat in the sixth game and winning next three games to reduce the deficit to 3-4. However, the Hungarian was unable to get the second break back and lost the set 4-6.
The Croatian hit a single ace and 72 percent of the first deliveries, winning 15 out of 21 points on them in the opening set. On the other hand, Arn failed to hit any ace and committed three horrible double faults in the first
set. The Hungarian couldn’t save two of the four break points she faced in the opener.
After winning a closely contested first set, Martic and Arn held their serves in the first four games to level the score at 2-2 in the second set. The Croatian broke Arn in the fifth game and held her serve in the next game to
take a 4-2 lead. Martic didn’t give any break opportunity to her opponent and comfortably served out the set in the tenth game, winning it 6-4.
The Croatian fired three aces and 73 percent of the first deliveries in the second set, claiming 17 off the 19 points on them. The 21-year-old returned satisfactorily, bagging eight off 21 return points in the set. In comparison,
Arn returned poorly as she won just two of the 19 first return points. The Budapest resident failed to save one of the four break points she came across, gifting the set to her opponent at 4-6.
Martic is slated to take on the world number seven, Marion Bartoli of France, in the second round. The second seeded Frenchwoman received a bye in the first round.
This will be the first meeting between Martic and Bartoli. They were drawn to face each other in the round of 64 at the Wimbledon Championships in 2010 but Martic was forced to give walkover due to an injury.
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