Silvia Soler Espinosa upsets Jamie Hampton at Barcelona Ladies open
Eighth seeded Spaniard Silvia Soler Espinosa triumphed over top seeded American Jamie Hampton in straight sets on Sunday. She registered a 6-2, 7-6(3) win over the 21-year-old American to advance into the main draw of the 2011
Barcelona Ladies Open.
Ranked 165th in the WTA Premier rankings, Espinosa outplayed Hampton, ranked 36 places above her, in one hour and forty-eight minutes on their first face to face. She displayed tremendous skills and abilities to book
her spot in the main draw at David Lloyd Club Turo.
The Spaniard, who hasn’t had much progress this season, stormed at Barcelona with a new strategy. She slew wild card countrywoman, Pilar Dominguez-Lopez with a bagel and a breadstick in the first round of the qualifiers.
Espinosa warded off late resistance from the American and clearly outshined throughout the match. She held her opening serve plausibly and had a much better first serve share of 71 percent as compared to Hampton’s 41 percent. The
Spaniard also registered an impressive 59 percent win on it and committed fewer unforced errors and double faults. She saved all three breakpoints faced and converted two out of three breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to clinch the set with an assuring
6-2 score line.
23-year-old lost her track in the second set as she clobbered three double faults and lost her serve four times. However she quickly counterattacked and broke back American’s serve four times to drag the set to tiebreaker. The
Spaniard prevailed in it to clinch the set with a 7-6(3) score line. She had a higher first serve share but earned a poor 38 percent win on it.
The higher ranked youngster exhibited dismal performance. She committed several unforced errors and clobbered nine double faults. She received a bye from the first round of qualifiers and was in full confidence but she saved four
out of ten breakpoints conceded to lose the match. However she is a lucky loser since she booked a spot in main draw despite losing the match.
Espinosa will next face Roberta Vinci in the first round of this WTA Premier event.
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