Shuai Peng overpowers Fatma Al Nabhani in the opening round – Qatar Total Open 2012
World number 16, Shuai Peng of China, continued to impress everyone with her crafty tennis skills and defeated Fatma Al Nabhani of Oman in the opening round of the Qatar Total Open on Monday. The 12th seeded Chinese
competitor took one hour and 25 minutes of play to register a straight sets victory over the 20-year-old opponent, settling the final scores at 6-0, 7-5, to march into the second round of the tournament.
Being a part of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier-level swing, the contest was played on the hard courts in Qatar, Doha and the 12th seeded player claimed victory with a bagel. Peng was absolutely ballistic
in the opening set, rocketing through all the games to devastate her opponent early in the contest. She nailed three successive serve breaks to outclass her opponent in a convincing fashion. Nabhani made a terrific comeback in the following set but couldn’t
hang on against the fury of her Chinese opponent, eventually losing the second set after a close fight.
"In the first set I played very well, but in the second set I think I lost some of my concentration," Peng said. "My reactions got a bit slower - it's late night in China right now! She also played some amazing shots... I would
hit wide to her forehand and she would come up with a winner down the line. I really didn't want it to go three sets, so even though it got close I was very happy to win. I played Fatma at the Asian Games in 2010 but I hadn't seen her play since then so I
didn't really know what to expect. She played very well."
The Omani underdog was a total mismatch for Peng, who dominated every segment of the contest to stamp her authority over the game. Nabhani coughed 11 expensive double faults in the match, conceding un-fought points to assist her
opponent to victory. She converted merely one of her seven break opportunities in the contest and suffered five cracking breaks of serve from the Chinese to finish on the losing side in the end.
Peng will take on the unseeded American competitor, Christina McHale, in the second round of the tournament later this week. McHale was successful against South Africa’s Chanelle Scheepers in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, in the opening
round of the Qatar Total Open. She will meet the superior-ranked Chinese opponent to fight for a place in the round of 16 of the star-studded event Doha.
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