Sorana Cirstea battles past Sloane Stephens in the opener – Dubai Tennis Championships 2013
A stunning upset was witnessed in the opening round of Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2013 when the world number 16, Sloane Stephens, crashed out at the hands of the Romanian underdog, Sorana Cirstea. The gruelling three-setter continued for two hours before 30th ranked Cirstea came out victorious on Monday. The final score line was 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, in favour of the Romanian.
Stephens had a dream start to the 2013 WTA season by reaching the semi-finals of Australian Open Grand Slam tournament and then breaking into the Top-20 rankings. She was anticipated to do a lot better in Dubai but couldn’t deliver to her best in the very first match she played. She took the opening set after a stiff contest but was completely outplayed by the crafty game play of her Romanian rival.
"Tough match," Stephens said in her post match reviews. "She obviously played some good tennis. Today I didn't play my best tennis. Every match isn't going to go the way you want it, and obviously I got a little frustrated, but no need to dwell on it - you just keep working hard and hanging in there and you'll be okay. Sometimes it doesn't click right away, but I'm working on it, and I don't feel any pressure."
Cirstea was facing the American teenager for the first time and she took her time to get into her winning groove. The first witnessed a steady start from both sides, with no break points being scored in the opening eight games. Stephens finally drew the first blood in the ninth game, only to be broken in the very next game to fall back to 5-5. However, she nailed her second successive break point in the 11th game and eventually served out of the set at 6-5.
The world number 16 carried on her winning impetus the following set and broke the Romanian serve in the opening game to lead 2-0 right away. Two back-to-back break point conversions from Cirstea awarded her the second set at 6-3. The Romanian youngster went on with the flow and stung three more serve breaks in the decisive set to conclude the contest at 6-2.
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