Qualifier Kimberly Yee defeats Basak Eraydin in Girls’ Singles 1st round – US Open 2011
The two qualifiers competing against each other were Turkish Basak Eraydin and American Kimberly Lee in the girls’ singles main draw of the US Open 2011. The two duelled out on hard court 8 of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York. Kimberly was the star pupil of the event and won on home soil to triumph with a 6-3, 6-4 in 81 minutes.
17 year-old Basak Eraydin represents Turkey and this year has contested in thirteen tournaments of the ITF Circuit. Out of the thirty matches played in; she has won eighteen and lost only twelve. Her biggest achievement this year was when she bagged the title by defeating Donna Vekic of Croatia by surviving a mid match lapse in the final at the Indian ITF Junior Tournament held inChandigarh.
Mean While, Kimberly Yee of Las Vegas won the USTA National Championships in singles by defeating number two seeded Christina Makarova. In addition, she also won the doubles USTA National Championships alongside Ellen Jang Milsten. This year she played twenty six matches and has won nineteen.
As both the players walked on to the court the crowd cheered for the local Yee. After winning the toss, Yee was first to serve and although, she didn’t smash an ace or a winner, she still managed to get 65% of her first serves on target. Both the players kept winning on their own serves in the first seven games but during the eighth game Yee was first to break and took the lead at 5-3. She then went on to hold her serve to conquer the first set at 6-3.
Although, the first set was an easy victory for Yee and she was unbroken, the same didn’t hold true for the second set as Eraydin managed to target 50% of her first serves.
This time initiating the set was Eraydin and as she won on her serve, she opened the score board to 1-0. In the next five games both the players won on alternate serves but in the seventh game again Yee was to break first and took the lead 4-3. Not wanting to lose the second match the Turkish challenger came back to break Yee in the eighth game and balanced the score at 4-4. At this crucial stage of the match, the game could’ve gone either way but in the ninth game as Eraydin was serving Yee pounced at the opportunity and broke her adversary to take a lead of 5-4. As she held her serve in the tenth game she served the set and the match.
By the end of the second set Kimberly Yee had secured a place in the second round of the US Open 2011 where she will be facing Swedish Ellen Allgurin.
Tags: