Sorana Cirstea dispatches Lourdes Dominguez-Lino in round two – Barcelona Ladies Open 2012
World number 47, Sorana Cirstea, dumped the Spanish veteran, Lourdes Dominguez-Lino, in the second round of the Barcelona Ladies Open to reach the quarter-final stage of the tournament. She lost the first set miserably but bounced
back to register 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 triumph in an hour and 37 minutes.
Cirstea won the toss and elected to serve first but she failed to hold on to it in the opening game. Her opponent trashed her down in the following game and the Romanian starlet was forced to drop another serve game in the meantime.
The scores cruised to 5-0 in favour of the local before the Romanian bagged the consolation breakpoint to avoid a bagel.
The second set witnessed an early breakpoint for the Romanian. Despite, levelling the scores at 2-2, the Spanish player dropped the following serve game that gifted the lead back to her opponent. Both players traded three breakpoints
in the following game; two for the Romanian and one for the Spaniard that rounded off the second set proceedings and enforced the third set into play.
The Romanian was under the cosh in the opening game of the final set but saved a breakpoint to register a very tight hold. However, she turned the tables on her rival; breaking Lino’s serve in the following game and taking a lead
of 2-0. She was again pressurized in the following game but did well to consolidate her lead to 3-0.
The Spanish player was under a lot of pressure having dropped an early breakpoint. The situation was against her and she panicked; committed back-to-back unforced errors that donated another breakpoint to the visitor.
Cirstea’s serve was broken in the fifth game but she did well to win the breakthrough back in the sixth game that increased her lead to 5-1. Only a miracle could have saved the match for the Spaniard from that stage but the Romanian
player bagged the following four points of the match to complete her comeback.
This encounter featured 141 points in total; out of which the Romanian won 75 and her rival could only grab 66. Both players committed one double fault apiece. The Spaniard won seven of her allotted 12 breakpoints whilst her competitor
pocketed eight of her allotted nine. It was an enthralling battle to say the least.
Sorana Cirstea will take on the likes of Belarusian tennis ace, Olga Govortsova, in the quarter-final of the tournament.
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