Sandra Záhlavová battles past Lina Stančiūtė in 1st round – Slovak Open 2011
Fourth seeded Czech Sandra Záhlavová needed three sets to get rid of Lithuanian Lina Stančiūtė in the first round of the Slovak Open 2011.
On indoor hard courts of the Národné Tenisové Centrum in Bratislava, Slovakia, the two challengers battled against each other and it took the fourth seeded Czech one hour and forty four minutes to coup the Lithuanian, Stančiūtė by surviving a mid match fall of 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 on Tuesday the 15th of November 2011.
Serving first was Záhlavová, and she smashed an ace at 40-30 to bag the opening game. The fourth seeded Czech then capitalized on a breakpoint and squandered a mini of two games against her adversary y the end of the second game. However, Stančiūtė was able to completely mitigate the deficit by breaking back immediately in the next game (third) and with a hold of serve in the fourth game.
During the following two games each player managed to hold her respective serve and the score tied at three games each by the end of the sixth game. In the seventh game Stančiūtė smashed five successive aces to bag her service game and briefly took the lead but as Záhlavová too held her serve the score had tied at four games each by the end of the eighth game.
However, it was in the last two games that first Záhlavová availed a breakpoint by breaking her adversary and then finally held her serve to secure the opening set and go one up in the match with a 6-4 victory.
After taking a beating in the first set, Stančiūtė made a return in the second by pulling up her socks. It seemed as history was repeating itself except this time it was the Lithuanian who was leading the set. The players had exchanged breaks early in the game and from there on wards both matched an eye for an eye.
It was Záhlavová, who had double faulted, while, Stančiūtė had capitalized on the breakpoint in the ninth game. As Stančiūtė held her serve for the last time, she hit a beautiful backhand winner to clog the second set and by the end of the second set each player had bagged a set apiece.
Commencing the decisive set was Stančiūtė and this time she got off to a bad start as she was unable to hold her respective serve, while, the fourth seeded Czech had taken a mini lead of two games to love. The two kept bagging their service games for the following four games and the score had shifted to 4-2 at the end of the sixth game. In the last two games the fourth seed had availed a breakpoint and with a hold of serve, sealed her victory of the match.
Next up for the fourth seeded Czech is Slovakian Lenka Juríková in the second round of the tournament.
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