Shuai Peng dodges upset against Aravane Rezai in the first round – ASB Classic 2012
Chinese second seed, Shuai Peng, ousted the French, Aravane Rezai, in the first round match of ASB Classic tournament, contested in Auckland, New Zealand. The match lasted for an hour and 58 minutes before second seed could confirm her place in the second
round; final score was 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in Peng’s favour. On Tuesday January 3rd, both contestants crashed on the courts for the second time in their career, with Chinese professional having the head-to-head lead of 1-0.
Peng had an easy victory in the first encounter between the two players as she managed to ease past Rezai in straight sets 6-0, 6-4 in the second round of Miami tournament contested in March last year. It was a perfect opportunity for world number 115, Rezai,
to pull up a major upset but she wasn’t equipped enough to overpower world number 17.
Unconventional start to the match saw both players trading breaks in the first two games but then the atmosphere settled and both players hung on to their respective serve games to push the score to 4-4. The major blow as witnessed in the ninth game when
Rezai broke her rival’s serve to take the lead and rounded off the set in the next game.
Stunning ending to the second set saw another untraditional start to the second set, as both players once again exchanged breaks in the start. At the score of 3-2, Rezai’s serve was broken by the second seed that doubled the lead and pushed the score to
4-2; she further enhanced the lead by ticking the score board to 5-2 in her favour.
Set was almost over at that stage because Rezai was not putting an effort to pull things in her favour and instead was saving stamina for the final set that was inevitable. Chinese bagged the second and tied the score at one set apiece.
Final set kicked off slowly but gained momentum when the second seed broke her opponent’s serve to take the score 3-2 in her favour; she held her own serve and the lead was doubled in quick succession. French tried her best to bring down one break point
in her favour and was also allotted two opportunities to accomplish her goal but she couldn’t capitalize on any of them.
Chinese second seed continued her domination and rounded the match with a triumph to her name, placed her in the second round against Lucie Hradecka of Czech Republic.
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