Sorana Cirstea struggles past Silvia Espinosa into final qualies – Generali Ladies Linz 2011
Romanian tennis pro Sorana Cirstea showed amazing fighting abilities and determination as she came back from a set deficit to defeat Spain’s Silvia Soler Espinosa 2-6, 6-1, 7-5 on Sunday to book her place in the final round of
2011 Generali Ladies Linz qualifying tournament here in Austria.
Seeded seventh at the Women’s Tennis Association tournament, Cirstea did a great job to stay focused in a match that lasted for 2 hours and 26 minutes on the hard courts of Linz. Although she had very shaky start to the match,
she quickly regrouped herself to pull off an amazing victory.
Trailing the set score 1-0, Cirstea needed a special performance to come back into the contest. She did exactly that by claiming the second set 6-1. Although she faced a tough resistance in third and final set of the match, she
eventually came through with her strong will power and confidence.
Ranked 78th in the world, Cirstea will take lots of goods from her victory. Defeating a player of Espinosa’s calibre, she will be feeling very confident about her game play. She will be hoping to continue her impressive
form in her next match-up as well to qualify for the main draw.
Espinosa will be disappointed with her mediocre effort. After doing all the hard work to take a 1-0 lead in the set score, she let opportunities slip through her hands. The 23-year-old Espinosa has given decent results on the WTA
tour since the start of the year 2011. Following her consistent performances, she improved her ranking considerably and will be looking to get over this failure and come back stronger on her next appearance on the tour.
Espinosa made a strong start to the match. Serving with control and accuracy, the Spaniard had no problems holding on to her service games. Breaking her opponent’s serve twice she put herself in the driving seat. Leading the game
score 5-2, Espinosa held on to her next service game with four straight points to take 1-0 set score lead.
Cirstea adopted a more attacking approach in the following set. Hitting her wonderful backhand and forehand winners all over the court, she applied great pressure on her opponent. Espinosa failed to execute her serves with control
under pressure as she made costly double faults throughout the contest. Breaking the serve twice, she bagged the second set even the set score 1-1 and force the match into the decider.
Both players displayed some high quality tennis in the final set as the match entered a very exciting phase with game score levelled at 5-5. Breaking the deadlock, Cirstea ensured her emphatic victory to move ahead at the competition.
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