Shahar Peer triumphs over Magdalena Rybarikova to enter round two – Fes WTA 2012
Israeli number one, Shahar Peer, required three sets to outsmart the Slovakian contender, Magdalena Rybarikova, at the Grand Prix De SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem 2012 on Tuesday. She summed up a 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 victory against the world number 90 to secure
a place in the round of 16 at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) clay court event held in Fes, Morocco.
The eight seed proved her class after dumping Rybarikova in their third outing. The contestants previously met each other at the Auckland WTA event two years ago and after earning this fame, Peer improved to a 3-0 lifetime in the head-to-head series against
the Slovak.
The underdog, Rybarikova, thundered into the Royal Tennis Club de Fes and drew the first blood in the opening game to take the initial lead. In spite of exchanging two serve breaks after that, the Slovak prevailed to pull out the opener with a 7-5 score
line.
Peer on the other end made a fitting reply in the second set and earned the coveted break in the second game to leap at 2-0. Apart from losing her edge in the very next game, the Israeli capitalised on another break chance in the fourth game to get the upper
hand. She then swiftly held her remaining serves and sealed the equaliser by winning six games to three.
The final set saw both players displayed their best tennis. Peer got the coveted break in the opening game and after exchanging three serve breaks, she clinched the decider with a 7-5 score line.
All in all, Peer jolted down a better first serve share of 66 per cent as opposed to her rival’s 46 per cent and tremendously clicked 47 out of 77 points on it. She dropped more double faults but smacked four aces to cover it up.
Next in line for Peer is the French lucky loser, Mathilde Johansson, who crushed Nadia Lalami with double breadsticks to set-up this duel. Johansson bagged her entire serves without facing any barrier and broke her opponent’s serve five times, eventually
getting the better of the local wild card entrant in 50 minutes.
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