Polona Hercog ousts Zuzana Kucova in 1st round – Hansol Korea Open 2011
Fifth seeded Polona Hercog defeated Slovak Zuzana Kucova in the opening round match of the Hansol Korea Open 2011 on the hard courts of Olympic Tennis Courts in Seoul, South Korea on the 20th of September 2011. After simply forty
five minutes of play, the fifth seeded Slovak won in straight sets with a bagel 6-0, and 6-2 victory.
The last time the two had met was in 2009 during the Zlin Open, Czech Republic. On classic clay courts the two duelled in the final and standing victorious was Hercog in straight sets of 6-3, 6-1. This was the second time the two
were meeting and was a chance given by fate to Zuzana to avenge her loss but alas!
Hercog was first to serve for the opening set and with great confidence, she not only held her serve in the first game but also went on to break her opponent in the second.
The third and the fourth game were a carbon copy of the first two games; as she held her serve in the third by smashing a back hand winner at 40-love before moving on to break Kucova in the fourth game to take a relaxed lead of
4-0.
By the end of the fifth game, Hans score was also 5-0, as she not only won on her serve but dominated all of her adversary’s service games too. Subsequently, in the sixth game Kucova’s backhand missed the line and instead she netted
the ball and double faulted, endorsing the game point to Hercog.
As Hercog powered through the first set, she set the tone for the second and again opening first was the fifth seeded Slovak. The two players held serve in the first two games and successfully placed themselves on the score board.
During the third and fourth set the two broke each other back to back to square off the score at 2-2. By the end of the fifth game, Hercog was leading with a mini lead of 3-2 and in the sixth game went on to breaking her opponent
to secure her lead of 4-2.
In the seventh game Hercog held her serve and was now looking to break her opponent for the third and last time. Hercog in the last game broke her opponent with a marvellous cross court forehand winner and bagged the second set
along with, the match.
The fifth seeded Slovak expertly saved a place in the second round and will now be facing Carla Suarez Navarro.
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