Rika Fujiwara ousts Sheng-Nan Sun in the 2nd qualifying round – Bank of the West Classic 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011 was the start of the second qualifying round of the Bank of the West Classic. Rika Fujiwara and Sheng-Nan Sun rivalled it out at the Taube Family Tennis Center, Stanford University, California. Rika won the
match 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-3 against her Chinese opponent (Sun).
The two players had contested against each other twice prior to this event and were well aware of each other’s style and technique. The last time they had met was in 2010 at the Beijing Cup where they battled it out on the outdoor
hard courts. In the total head to head matches that they have contested against each other, Rika had triumphed over both of them and had a 2-0 lead on her opponent. This was the third time they were meeting again and although Sun had a chance to regain some
of her dignity, it was yet another dream that was to come true!
Serving first with superior confidence was Rika; she didn’t smash an ace and instead ended up striking two line faults. Although she was able to hit sixty nine percent of the first serve targets and also had an average fifty percent
win of her total return points, she was only able to capitalise on two of the three break point opportunities and was unable to save the three that she allowed on her serve.
This was it for the Chinese (Sun) to outshine her opponent, she capitalized on all break points awarded to her by Rika and managed to save a break point chance. Both the players had relatively similar points in their serve and
return serve, however, Sun managed to win the set with a mere three more points than her rivals.
Sun had gained an edge by winning one set, if she could win the second it would be her victory. However, that was unlikely as experience had proven otherwise. Serving first with vengeance was Rika; although she didn’t strike an
ace, she managed to hit sixty eight percent of the first serve on target and along with fifty six percent in her total return points of the set, she was able to gain an edge over her rival. Additionally, she had also clenched all the three break points she
faced.
Mean while, her opponent had managed to hit seventy six percent of the first serve on target, however due to a relatively poor return serve she lost points. Sun was also unable to save any of her break points, however, did win
three out of the four break point opportunities that were presented to her.
The set was a close tie between both the players and they had rallied all the way to the tie breaker which was eventually won by Rika.
The third set was the final deciding set of the match. Both the rivals had bagged, one set each, this set would determine the final winner of the match. Rika was not to give up and with complete resoluteness knew that she could
win this set as she had previously done so twice. Serving first Rika’s precision faltered thrice hitting three line faults. She was able win a commendable sixty two percent of her total service points along with an average forty eight percent win in the total
return points; this gave her the edge that she required.
However, Sun performed relatively better in her serve than her return serve and was at the losing end, even though she was able to convert her break point chances along with saving five of the break points on her save.
Summing it up; although both the players were good competition of each other, Rika had an edge because of her confidence and experience of playing Sun twice prior to this event. Rika won the match and increased the head to head
score to 3-0.
Tags: