Simona Halep trounces Arantxa Rus to clinch the main round spot – Dubai Duty Free Champ. 2012
Romanian booming starlet, Simona Halep, crushed the Dutch youngster, Arantxa Rus, to confirm a place in the opening round of the Dubai Duty Free Championships. On Monday, Halep dominated the show and ousted her opponents
in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 in just over an hour.
Both these contestants had faced-off three times before this encounter and the Romanian was victorious on every occasion; dumping the Dutch in straight sets in Barcelona Ladies Open 2010, Makarska 2009 and French Open (juniors)
2008.
It was a neck-to-neck battle at the start with both players holding their serves to cement their position in the set. Rus was the underdog performer in the match; she was pressurized with a change in game style from the Romanian
that worked in the fifth game. She committed a silly unforced error by gifting a break opportunity to her opponent. Halep wasted no time in ousting her opponent and registering the maiden breakthrough of the contest.
Rus was trailing one break down that forced her to shift gears but that backfired at her. A couple of drop shots from the Romanian took the pace off the ball and allowed no opportunity to the Dutch to make any sort of impact.
Another breakthrough to the Romanian consolidated her position and she successful served for the set to take the lead. Seeing herself behind in the match, Rus was heartbroken and had already lost in the mind. It was just
a matter of time for the Romanian before she could grab a spot in the main round of the tournament.
The second set started with a successful breakpoint for the Romanian who doubled her lead with another break in the fifth game. Scores raced to 4-1 with the Dutch contestant failing to create an opening for her.
It was a monumental task to fight back from that stage. Rus was not equipped to absorb the pressure and jump back into the match. She lost the second set in despair and marched towards the exits with her opponent celebrating
her triumph.
Important news related to the tournament is that world number two, Petra Kvitova, is not going to feature in the tournament due to illness.
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