Polona Hercog battles past Alexandra Panova in the first round - Swedish Open 2012
World number 86, Polona Hercog, of Slovenia registered an upset against the 75th ranked Russian star, Alexandra Panova, in the first round clash of the Sony Swedish Open. On Tuesday, the Slovenian 21-year-old won the
encounter in straight sets 7-5, 7-5 after a battle of an hour and 56 minutes.
A traditional start to the proceedings witnessed an easy serve holds for both players in the first two games. The Russian 23-year-old exerted pressure with successive breakthroughs and took a resounding lead of 4-1 in the opening
set.
However, surprisingly the Slovenian was tough enough to stay calm and fight her way back into the contest. She pocketed the following three games including a couple of breakpoints to level the scores at 4-4.
No drama was witnessed in the following two games and scores moved on to 5-5. Hercog was tested in a critical game of the match but she somehow managed to bag the game and switched the pressure back on the Russian.
Another surprising performance from the Slovenian starlet earned a critical breakthrough for her in the must serve hold game for her rival. She led the set scores one nil at that stage.
Hercog has not passed first round stage in the last four tournaments she has played that includes Palermo, Wimbledon, French Open and Madrid. She reached the second round at Estoril and was dumped in the first at Barcelona. She
was ranked 35 in the world in January but her dismal performance drowned her ranking to the 80’s.
An amazing turnaround in the opening set must have lifted her morale. In the second set she was again trailing 2-4 after dropping a breakpoint in the fifth game. However, her willpower to win the breakthrough back didn’t ease pressure
on her rival and in a must win game Hercog broke serve to level the scores at 5-5.
She was tested in the following game but did well to hang on to her serve. Panova, once again, faltered on her serve in the critical game and lost any chance of registering a comeback.
Hercog stated, "I'm really happy to get through this match as I haven't had a great season so far. Even though I wasn't playing my best, it means a lot after all the problems I've had with injury and form. I just need to try and
stay aggressive and not worry about the results too much."
Polona Hercog locks horns with the second seed German, Julia Goerges, in round two.
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