Sessil Karatantcheva cripples Romana Tabak to enter the main draw – Whirlpool Monterrey Open 2012
Qualifying top seed, Sessil Karatantcheva, slew the Slovakian starlet, Romana Tabak, with a breadstick in this final qualifying round at the Whirlpool Monterrey Open 2012 on Monday. She penned down an impressive 6-2, 6-1 score line against the 20-year-old to book a spot in the main draw at this WTA International tournament held in Monterrey, Mexico.
The Bulgarian-born Karatantcheva spilled several unforced errors but broke her rival’s serve six times to pull out the victory in their first meeting. She required an hour and 12-minutes to earn the limelight and advance into the main draw at the Sierra Madre Tennis Club.
World number 132 Karatantcheva drew the first blood in the opening game and leaped to 2-0. She then held her composure and not only bagged remaining serves but also capitalised on another break opportunity in the seventh game, ultimately sealing the opener with a 6-2 win.
The Kazakh went wild in the following set and wiped out the opening five games successively to go 5-0 up. Regardless of losing her serve in the proceeding game, she broke Tabak’s serve for the fourth time and clinched the set with a tremendous 6-1 score line.
Summing up the 22-year-old’s performance at this crucial match, Karatantcheva committed seven double faults but defended six out of seven breakpoints she came across. She also cashed in six out of nine break chances and produced a higher first serve share. The Kazakh also superbly clicked 33 out of 49 points on it and dominated throughout the match.
Karatantcheva will face her wild card compatriot, Yaroslava Shvedova, in the opening round.
Hungary’s Katalin Marosi also earned the spotlight after she trashed the Chinese starlet, Sheng-Nan Sun, in straight sets.
Ranked 481st in the WTA rankings, Marosi exchanged two breaks in the opening set to drag the set to a tie-breaker. She dominated in it and clinched the opener with a 7-6(3) score line.
The Romanian-born improved her winning ways in the follow-up set. She gifted away her serve once but broke the Chinese’s serve twice to pull out the set with a 6-4 win.
Overall, the 32-year-old clobbered a slightly lower first serve share of 67 percent as opposed to Sun’s 69 percent and brilliantly won 30 out of 41 points on it. Marosi saved half of the six breakpoints she faced and converted four out of five break opportunities to her advantage.
The Hungarian will confront the Czech star, Eva Birnerova, in the first round.
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