Samantha Stosur overpowers Misaki Doi in 2nd round – HP Japan Open 2011
Top seed Samantha Stosur overcame Japanese Misaki Doi in the second round of the HP Japan Open 2011. The two challengers battled it out on outdoor hard courts of the Utsubo Tennis Center in Osaka, Japan. After one hour and twenty
two minutes the top seeded Australian prevailed over the Japanese in straight sets of 6-2, 6-4, on Thursday the 13th of October 2011.
Doi had decided to initiate the opening round after winning the service toss and she expertly managed to win her service game. At her heels was the top seed, who too managed to easily bag her first service game and rotated the
scoreboard to 1-1. In the third game Doi lost control and double faulted, endorsing a game to her adversary. Mean while, Stosur capitalized on the breakpoint and held her serve to take the lead of 3-1 on the scoreboard.
During the fifth and the sixth game the players broke each other one after the other and the scoreboard spun to 4-2. However, in the seventh game Stosur again capitalized on a crucial game and was now only a game away from victory.
As she served for the opening set, she fought a deuce and took the advantage to bag the opening set with a 6-2 victory.
The second set of the match was also initiated by Doi and she successfully handled her service game. Following behind her was Stosur, who too won on her service game and placed herself at 1-1. In the third game Stosur benefitted
from a breakpoint and as she held serve in the fourth game, she took a mini lead of 3-1.
However, Doi closed in on the lead by holding her serve and then breaking Stosur to equalize the score at 3-3 at the end of the sixth game. Matching a blow for a blow, the players again held serve to tie the score at 4-4. During
the second last game Doi came under pressure and her forehand shot went haywire, resulting in an extremely lucky break for the top seeded Australian. As Stosur served for the match, she smashed a few marvellous backhand winners down the line and sealed her
victory.
The Aussie will now be facing seventh seeded Chanelle Scheepers in the quarterfinal of the event.
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