Sloane Stephens and Jarmila Gajdosova book second round place at the 2011 Estoril Open
Sloane Stephens of United States secured a thumping 6-2, 6-2 victory over compatriot Melanie Oudin on Tuesday to reach the second round at the 2011 Estoril Open in Portugal.
Stephens made a very positive start and looked to pressurize her opponent. In the very first game of the opening set she claimed four straight points to make the first serve break of the match. Leading the game score at 4-2, the
American had another chance of breaking the serve which she successfully converted to secure a significant 5-2 lead in the set. She held on to her next serve game quite comfortably to clinch the set 6-2.
The second set also followed a similar pattern. Having put her opponent under extreme pressure, Stephens continued to play her natural game freely and created match winning opportunities. She broke the serve three times in the
set to earn a straight set victory in a match that lasted for only 1 hour and 5 minutes.
With her aggressive baseline play, Stephens was able to create tight angles wide of the court. She also played the chip shots cleverly to win crucial points. Ranked 170 in the world, Stephens put up a great show to down a much
higher ranked player. She smashed her wonderful forehand winners all over the court and made her opponent’s game look completely ineffective. Oudin in contrast, looked completely out of sorts and committed a number of unforced errors. She expressed disappointment
at her ordinary performance in a post match interview.
Stephen’s serve was accurate and on-target most of the times as she reached a brilliant 73 per cent first serve conversion. With her solid defence she was able to save certain points against her which also dented Oudin’s confidence
levels. Stephens converted the very first match point to book her second round meeting with the world with Monica Niculescu, who defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.
The 18-year-old Stephens has given considerable results on the Women’s Tennis Association tour since she turned professional in 2010. In pursuit of her first career title, Stephens will be hoping to continue her good form in her
next matches at the tournament as well however consistency is going to be the key in a field full of fierce competitors.
In another match at the red clay courts tournament number two seed Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia secured a straight set 6-4, 6-0 victory over Czech Renata Voracova to reach the next round.
Gajdosova broke the serve 5 times in the match and required only 1 hour and 15 minutes dispatching her opponent. She will take on compatriot Casey Dellacqua in the second round play. Dellacqua eased past Shuai Zhang of China 6-2,
6-1.
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