Petra Martic downs Johanna Konta in the second round – e-Boks Open 2012
Unseeded in the tournament draw, Petra Martic of Croatia, outplayed the Australian qualifier, Johanna Konta, in the second round of the e-Boks Open on Wednesday. She outsmarted the 20-year-old opponent in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3,
to book a berth in the quarter-finals of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International Tour event in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The world number 57, Martic, required just 76 minutes to wrap up her 10th victory of the running season and the first one against Konta in singles encounters. She has already suffered seven defeats this year but her
presence in the quarter-finals depicts her intent to have an impact on the WTA Tour this time round.
The 21-year-old Croat was simply unplayable in the Wednesday’s matchup, dominating her opponent in every single minute to drive her out of the competition with the utmost ease. Martic delivered just 55 per cent of her first serve
on target and secured 16 out of 28 points on it but her proficiency to convert break points proved to be the critical success factor for the Croatian. She crafted a total of 10 break opportunities in the contest and cashed in half of her chances to rout Konta,
who could merely register two out of three break points in the entire match to finish on the losing side in the end.
Action started in the third game of the opener, with both players exchanging breaks of serves to reach 2-2. Konta went through a terrible slump after a decent start and suffered two more cracking serve breaks to lose the first
set at 2-6. She was jolted down early in the following set to trail 0-3 but a steady recovery from the Australian dragged the scores to 3-3 later. Martic delivered another decisive break of serve to conclude victory at 6-3, ending Konta’s voyage at Copenhagen
in despair.
Martic has to wait to know her quarter-final opponent, as the second round battle between the fourth seed Romanian, Monica Niculescu and the unseeded Serbian, Bojana Jovanovski, is still to be settled. These two talented competitors
will go one-on-one against each other on Thursday and the winner will take on Martic in the round of eight on Friday.
Unseeded Frenchwomen, Alize Cornet, fifth seed Kaia Kanepi from Estonia and the sixth seed German contender, Mona Barthel, are the other players who have booked spots in the quarter-final round of the e-Boks Open already. Top seed
defending champion, Caroline Wozniacki, second seed Angelique Kerber of Germany and the former world number one, Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, are still to win their second round matches before getting through to the last-eight of the tournament.
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