Shahar Peer battles past Sacha Jones in the second round – Hobart International 2012
Israeli sixth seed, Shahar Peer, plonked the newly turned Aussie superstar, Sacha Jones, in the second round of Hobart International tournament on Wednesday. Both players contested the battle for two hours and 14 minutes before
the 37thranked Israeli ousted the former New Zealand number two, Jones, in straight sets 7-6(7), 6-4.
It was the first encounter between the two players and considering the nationality shift from Jones, she received a massive support from the home crowd for representing their nation on the elite platform. It was an enthralling
battle and no one could blink an eye to avoid missing any breathtaking shots that were the gist of the match.
After Jones held her first serve, series of serve breaks was ignited; five successful breakpoints were seen in succession, favouring a ratio of 3:2 to Aussie contestant to take the scores to 4-2 in favour of Jones. Next two games
were held by both players before the vital break for the sixth seed was observed that levelled the scores at 5-5.
Two more breaks were exchanged in the next two games to enforce the tie breaker. Crowd was on the edge of their seats as the contest got so exciting that no one wanted to miss a second of it. After a hard fought battle in the tie-breaker
the visitor clinched the crucial points at the end to seal the first set win.
Aussie started the second set comprehensively with a break and successful serve to her name upfront. Peer replied quickly with a successful serve break in the next game to level the scores at 2-2. Another break point conversion
for Jones regained her lead that was levelled in the eighth game by the Israeli. Peer held her serve in the ninth game and nailed a cracking serve break in the 10th game to stun her rival with two back-to-back winners down the line. It was something
that Jones utterly failed to exhibit throughout the match.
Victory to the sixth seed Peer places her in the quarter-finals of the Hobart International, where she will play against the Russian Anna Chakvetadze.
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