Shahar Peer stunned by Maria Sanchez in the first round of 2011 Roland Garros
Shahar Peer experienced another early round loss at a Grand Slam tournament as she was thrashed out of the French Open on Sunday by Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. Peer failed to win a single set against her world number 86 Spaniard
rival. Sanchez claimed the hard fought opening set in the tie-breaker 7-6 (4) and then dropped only a game in the second set to end 19th seeded Israeli’s campaign at the prestigious tournament.
Sanchez executed her game plan brilliantly and broke the serve early in the set to shift the balance of the match. Peer looked a bit out of sorts as the match started and soon found herself trailing the game score by 4-1. However,
she lifted her spirits and bounced back to force the set into a tie-breaker. Sanchez showed no signs of nerves as she successfully clinched four straight points to take the set score lead 1-0.
In the second set, Peer seemed to have lost confidence on her shots and made several backhand errors. Sanchez took complete advantage of her opponent’s inability to convert easy scoring chances and broke the serve at regular intervals.
The Spaniard grabbed opportunities with both hands and made the challenger pay heavily for her mistakes. She required only seven games in the set to wrap up the contest in straight sets.
Although Peer achieved a satisfactory 69 percent first serve conversion, a large number of unforced errors always meant that she was fighting a losing battle. The Israeli tennis-pro committed 36 unforced errors which played a vital
role in deciding the outcome of the game. Her defensive strategy also did not help her achieve her goals as she hesitated to come close to the net.
Sanchez served with control and accuracy and secured 67 per cent of the points on her first serve. She also managed to win 60 per cent of the points on serve return to put herself in a very strong position in the match.
Until this season started, clay was known as one of Peer’s favourite surfaces as she has an impressive record on the red surface. However, following her recent struggles, she has slipped to world number 20 in the world rankings
after flirting with top 10 for a while. Her first round exit here at Roland Garros was the fourth such time for the 24-year-old in Major tournaments, and the third in the last four competitions she has participated in. Peer is renowned for her unmatchable
fighting spirit and determination so we can expect her to make a strong come back at her next WTA appearance but she must correct the flaws in her game play to yield positive results.
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