Richel Hogenkamp flabbergasts 8th seed Kristyna Pliskova in 2nd round – Slovak Open 2011
Eighth seeded Czech Kristyna Pliskova lost to Dutch qualifier Richel Hogenkamp in the second round of the Slovak Open 2011.
The two players had clashed against each other in Bratislava, Slovakia on indoor hard courts of the Národné Tenisové Centrum and it took the Dutch qualifier only sixty two minutes to defeat the eighth seeded Czech in straight sets of 6-4, 6-4.
The first set was completely dominated by the qualifier as she not only hit 69 percent of her first serves on target but also accomplished an eighty percent of first serve points. Moreover, she had a strong defence and did not set up a single breakpoint opportunity for her adversary instead; she capitalized on a hundred percent of breakpoints won.
Mean while, Pliskova too had a good service but it wasn’t exceptional and nor did it have as much power as her adversary. However, she lost most of her points due to a poor return which only enabled her to attaining a thirty one percent of her total return points.
Pliskova kicked open the opening round and both the players were able to hold their respective serves. In the third game Pliskova double faulted and endorsed a crucial game to Hogenkamp, who had held her serve in the next game to take the mini lead at the end of the fourth game.
The players then managed to bag their respective serves for the following four games and the score had shifted to 5-3 at the end of the eighth game with Hogenkamp leading the game. Although, she was unable to close the set in the following game, she did so in the tenth by smashing a spectacular backhand winner.
The second set of the match was also initiated by Pliskova and once more the players bagged their respective serves. However, in the third game Pliskova’s forehand went wayward and she endorsed a game to Hogenkamp, who held her serve and took the mini lead by the end of the fourth game.
Subsequently, in the following two games the two challengers broke each other one after the other and the score progressed to 4-2 at the end of the sixth game. With a hold of serve from the players in the following two games, the score progressed to 5-3 with Hogenkamp leading the game.
She was now only a game away from victory but was unable to break her adversary to close the match. Nonetheless, she managed to do so in the tenth game by restricting her opponent to four games in the entire set.
Richel Hogenkamp was able to save a spot in the quarterfinal of the event where she will be facing the unseeded Slovakian Lenka Jurikova.
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