Romana Tabak cripples Ulrikke Eikeri in semi-final – ATT Women’s Circuit 2011
Slovakian qualifier Romana Tabak crushed Norwegian qualifier Ulrikke Eikeri with a breadstick at the ATT Women’s Circuit 2011, an ITF event taking place on the clay courts in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She easily secured a 6-1, 6-4
victory over the Norwegian and advanced into the final to confront the top seeded Julia Cohen on Friday.
In a match between two qualifiers, Tabak outshined the Norwegian, ranked 485th in the Sony Ericsson WTA Premier Rankings, on their second meeting in almost an hour. She not only avenged her loss against Eikeri in Rosario
last month but also inched towards her second year-to-date title.
Tabak, who is standing at her career best rank at 309, went berserk in the opening set. She unleashed a barrage of groundstrokes and went on a five games rampage before the Norwegian could come on the score sheet. The Slovakian
then held her serve again in the last game and took the breadstick. She blasted away all breakpoints faced and cashed in two breakpoint chances to her advantage to clinch comfortably.
The Slovakian rising star lost her ways in the final set as she gifted away an early serve. However, Tabak bounced back in style and after breaking Eikeri’s serve twice, she pocketed the set with a 6-4 score line.
Overall, Tabak lost her serve once but broke the Norwegian serve four times to prevail. She also took full advantage of the several unforced errors and double faults the lower ranked Norwegian coughed.
The Slovak had won twelve out of her last thirteen matches which including a five match winning run at Asuncion ITF. She grabbed her maiden year-to-date title after upsetting the second seed, Florencia Molinero in the title round
on Asuncion clay courts. In addition to this, Tabak made quarter-final berths at Lenzerheide and Rotterdam ITF events before entering this tournament.
Next challenge for the Slovakian starlet is the highest rank player of the tournament, America’s Julia Cohen. She had shocked the top seeded Cohen last month at Asuncion and if Tabak plays her original game, she can easily upset
her again to claim her second career title.
World number 181 Cohen on the other hand is coming from a title round appearance at Rosario (lost to third seed Chanel Simmonds). She battled past Croat Tereza Mrdeza in a three setter nail biter match to reach this spot. The American
put up a solid display of tennis and after almost two hours long rally, she clobbered a 6-0, 5-7, 6-3 victory over Mrdeza.
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