Polona Hercog and Mirjana Lucic progress into the second round of the 2011 Barcelona Ladies Open
Slovenian tennis star Polona Hercog took out 2010 Osprey ITF winner and world number 129th Jamie Hampton 6-4, 7-5 in just 86 minutes of solid play to enter the second round of 2011 Barcelona Ladies Open, a WTA International
event being held here in the Barcelona city.
Hercog is playing some great tennis so far, after two not so good performances earlier this tournament at the Fes and Marbella. At Fes she was ousted by the American Melanie Oudin in the second round whereas at Marbella she was
moved past by the Spaniard Laura Pous-Tio in straight sets.
Hampton was no challenge for Hercog, who was pushing her down in each game. The Slovenian pro dominated the first set with her great serving and good ground strokes and never gave the break back. In the end it was 6-4 to Hercog.
In the second set, Hampton looked to be keeping up with Hercog a bit more, but once Hercog got the break she knew she had no chance. Hercog eased to victory with great tennis; 6-4, 7-5.
In another match during the day, Croat Mirjana Lucic, 100th in the world, cast out fourth seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia in two sets 7-6(4), 6-3 in the first round of the 2011 Barcelona Ladies Open, Barcelona, Spain.
It took one hour and seventeen minutes for the Croat to outplay her opponent in straight sets.
The Croat, Lucic, started off great as opposed to her opponent and hit two aces in the first set. She hit 76 percent of her first serves and earned an acceptable 59 percent win on them. Whereas, Makarova played at her worst, converting
just 53 percent on her 56 percent first serves. The first set was a bit tougher although Lucic never came close to losing the set. This time a tiebreak had to decide the outcomes of the first set. The Croatian pro proved to be too strong in that tiebreak and
finished the first set with a 6-4 score line.
In the final set, Lucic hit 52 percent of the first serves, winning 79 percent of points on them. Makarova on the other hand hit 56 percent of the first serves and won a meager 47 percent of points on them. Lucic, luckily saved
60 percent of her break point opportunities on return to claim the straight sets victory with a 7-6(4), 6-3 score.
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